Gray Lady Down Page #4

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clear that hatch, Bill?

- We have a small submersible that--

- It's a little bug, but

it might just do the job.

- It was developed on a shoestring budget.

But the man that designed it,

claims it'll do most anything.

- It has an arm, and I believe

it's television-equipped, isn't it?

- Well, yes, I think so.

- Well, nevertheless, it's

supposed to do a lot of things,

and clearing the earth off an escape hatch

could certainly be one of them.

But let me emphasize, sir,

it's still experimental.

It's called the, the Snark?

- Can we get it?

- Absolutely.

Well, that is if the

secretary will authorize it.

And I think Don Gates

should go along with it.

He's the young captain who's developed it.

- All right, I'll authorize it.

- Captain Gates!

Captain Gates!

Hey, sir!

You got a call from the office

of the Secretary of the Navy!

Hello!

A sub is down!

They wanna use the Snark!

- Hey, partner, how's that arm?

- Been doing better, sir.

- Feeling fine?

- Captain?

- Harris.

How you doing?

- I don't know what happened up there.

- You just did what we

all felt like doing.

- Yes, sir.

- Take it easy.

How you doing?

- Captain?

May I speak to you a moment, sir?

- What's up?

- Is that, um, whatchamacallit here yet?

- Not yet, should be along anytime.

Lieutenant Fowler's gonna help

you figure out a procedure

to get these people through

here to the escape hatch.

- You think it can dig us out, sir?

- Captain Bennett thinks so.

- Do you think so, sir?

- Yeah, I do.

- Have Lieutenant Bloome report

to me on the helo deck immediately.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- Captain Gates?

Hal Bennett. Welcome aboard!

- Don Gates!

Just secure her for now!

We'll dive in 20 minutes!

Can you show me to the com shack?

- Aye, aye, sir.

Right this way.

- Mickey.

- Sir.

- Everything working okay?

- Yeah.

You want set this up?

- Certainly. Excuse me.

Oh, uh.

These will have to go.

Here, take these.

Okay.

- We don't have power yet.

What I need is 110, AC.

- Yeah, right over there, Chief.

- TV monitor, talk back.

This'll be able to see

everything the Snark can see.

Get this set up, and before you know it,

you and me will be down

at the bottom of the sea

with that submarine.

- You betcha.

- Captain Gates.

Captain Gates?

I think we'll operate more efficiently

if we bear in mind who's in charge here.

- Yes, sir.

- The Snark is a two-man

vehicle, is that correct?

- Yes, I work it with Mickey here.

- This is Lieutenant Bloome, Gates.

You'll be working with him today.

- What?

- Have a good look at the

controls in that thing

before you go down, Bloome.

- Aye, sir.

- Just a minute.

- Captain Gates, Lieutenant

Bloome is a submersibles expert.

He's one of my team here.

- This is a unique vehicle.

There are no experts.

There's me and Mickey.

He planned it with me, built it for me.

- Sir, you see--

- Look, Captain Gates,

this is not a town meeting.

I said you will take Bloome.

He knows these waters.

When will you be ready to dive?

- We'll dive in 45 minutes.

- Bloome.

- Sir, would, um...

- Excuse us, gentlemen.

Okay, Bloome.

Now, you're down here

on your belly like this.

Now, to operate the nose

camera and the light,

both in sync, so wherever

you point the light,

camera goes there too.

- How about the mechanical arm?

- That works just like a crane.

- Uh-huh.

- Pull it back to retract it.

See the stick?

- Mm-hm.

- Side to side.

Nothing hard about it.

- How in the hell do you stay so calm?

- You know, I had this funny flash

when we were bottoming out, sir,

that I didn't give a damn

one way or the other.

- Hit me just the opposite.

Hit me just how much I

wanted to stay around,

especially with this boat and this crew.

And only yesterday I was

thinking, it's all over, isn't it?

- All set, Captain?

- All set.

- Lieutenant, you

understand this contraption?

- Yes, sir.

It's not all that different

from our own RV-1.

- Just remember, any problems,

you notify us immediately.

Two dead heroes won't help anyone.

- Now listen, don't try to

take off too much in one bite.

- Let's hit it.

- Good luck.

- Bye.

- Snark, do you read me?

Over.

Snark, do you read me?

Over.

Snark, do you read me?

Over.

- Of course I do.

- Have you got it?

- Yes, sir.

- No problems so far.

200 feet.

- Roger.

- 250 feet.

340 feet.

Water temperature, 48 degrees.

Passing 400 feet.

Looks good, Mickey.

- What's his angle of descent?

- Snark, what is your angle of descent?

Over.

- 10 degrees, increasing

one degree every 150 feet.

525 feet.

There's a little vibration.

Nothing to worry about, Bloome.

Coming up on 600 feet.

- That shouldn't bring him

down very far off, sir.

- Not too fast.

Go on your sonar now.

- Passing 1,000 feet.

- Go on.

- We're turning on the

cameras and going on sonar.

There she is.

- We have a sonar contact.

Do you read us up top?

We're taking a little beating down here.

- Current layer, sir, we're expecting--

- Yeah, that's okay.

Yeah, it's fine.

Sir, as long as it doesn't

go too deep, you know?

- Gates, this is Bennett.

Hold on till you get beneath that layer.

- Okay, Captain.

We're gonna hold on.

Uh-oh, we've lost contact.

- That layer must be

deflecting your sonar.

Decrease your rate of descent.

You'll have to make contact visually.

- Coming up on 1,300 feet.

Seems to be settling down.

- Neptune, are you getting all this?

- We hear it.

- Just take a little

longer, that's all, Paul.

- We'll be here.

You heard the man.

Relax.

- Relax. Yes, sir.

Are you relaxed?

- Yeah, I'm, we're relaxed.

I'm relaxed.

- We are relaxed.

- Yeah.

- Coming up on 1,400 feet.

And my sonar is saturated

with reverberations.

- Wait a second.

I think I see...

Damn, it's hard to see.

Light reflections.

There.

That must be it.

Hard to starboard.

- Do you see her?

- Yeah, Bloome thinks so.

We're moving in for a closer look.

It can't be this far off.

- Easy.

In a little closer.

Little closer.

There.

I do see it.

Yeah.

Oh, my God!

- Sorry, Paul.

What we thought was you

turned out to be an old sonar target.

- Captain Bennett,

I'm taking it back up.

- How far?

- All the way.

- We'll try again, Paul.

- Roger.

- Captain Gates, what happened?!

Why did you stop looking for her?!

- I gotta have

my own man down there!

- And you thought that's sufficient reason

to abandon the search?!

- When I'm steered to a

'52 De Soto, yes, sir!

It's not your fault.

You'd really get the hang of it

after a week of lying

on your belly looking

through those little peepholes.

But we haven't got a damn week!

- We haven't got time

for this either, Gates.

- I'm sorry.

- You have dived nowhere but

Nantucket Sound in that--

- Contraption.

No, sir.

- Captain, Lieutenant Bloome

is an expert in these waters.

He knows the currents, he

knows the rock formations.

- I don't mean to argue,

but, please, we can dig those guys out.

- Gates, how can you be sure that this man

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