Gray Lady Down Page #6

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- Come on!

- Clear out, Paul!

It's too heavy!

You'll never close it from that side!

Help me, you son of a b*tch!

Come on, Paul!

- Gates, is it working?

- Yeah.

Yeah, it's turning.

- Ah, it stopped!

- Damn it!

- Do you see that, Bennett?

That rock's stopping her.

- Yes.

She's caught there.

That angle doesn't look good.

- No less than 60 degrees.

It won't work.

We're coming up.

- What the hell happened?

- It's all right.

- We just stopped.

I don't understand right now.

- Something's holding us back.

- Well, what is it, Captain?

- Take it easy.

- Sir, what happened back there, sir?

- Captain?

Captain?

- What happened back there?

- Captain.

- Captain.

- How much air do you

calculate they've got left?

- No more than 10 to 12 hours, sir.

- Gates.

That mechanical arm on the Snark,

it's fairly versatile, isn't it?

Can it handle explosives?

- Handle?

- Carry them?

Place them?

- I guess so.

- I was thinking,

if we could blast away just

a section of that rock,

there'd be no more obstruction.

The sub would roll upright,

and the hatch would be cleared.

- Captain, your explosion would

cave in the whole submarine.

There would be no one left to rescue.

- Not if we use shaped charges.

You see, the blast from a shaped charge

goes only in one direction.

We could rig it

so that it would blow

away from the submarine.

- We have no demolitions team.

- We can get one.

- Sir.

- Don't touch it, Chief.

It's live.

Okay, Captain.

What you wanna do is very dangerous.

I mean, we're taking a live charge down

that's all ready to blow,

and it can damn sure go

off when we place it.

- Will it be ready soon?

- Yes, sir.

But, listen, if it's

not placed just right,

we're gonna put one hell

of a hole in that sub.

- Well, then, we'll have

to place it just right,

won't we, Lieutenant?

- I'm with you, sir,

but I'm here to tell you

it's kind of tricky when you

got earth slides and currents.

You're using a mechanical arm.

- Lieutenant, I know you can do it.

After you.

- Yes, sir.

- Three's a crowd, huh?

- Watch it on television, Mickey.

- Everything set?

Gates, the men have gotta

know what's happening

down there before the blast.

Can you signal them?

They're not gonna believe it.

I'm not sure I do myself.

- Hey!

- Hey.

- Hey, what the hell's that?

- What's going on?

- Hey, the lights.

Hey, the batteries.

- Batteries.

- Hey, come on, put the lights on!

- All right, fellas, knock it off.

Light the battle lanterns.

Light the battle lanterns.

- Here, Danny, hold this.

- Coming through, fellas.

Watch your head, sir.

Well, here we go.

All right, hand me that one.

- Yeah.

- Here you go.

- The air's kind of stale already.

- You starting to feel drowsy?

- Yeah, maybe a little, sir.

- Collins, gangway.

Harris, you getting this?

- Yes, sir.

- What are they doing, sir?

- They're gonna blast away the rock

that's keeping us over at this angle.

That'll let us right ourselves.

Then comes the DSRV.

Simple.

- Oh, yeah.

- All right.

Take it easy.

Now, listen.

Everybody keep alert.

Really on your toes.

That's gonna be one

hell of a big shockwave

hitting this boat.

I don't think the door

of that control room

back there'll hold.

Chances are we'll lose the

next compartment here too.

Maybe it'll act as a cushion.

All right, secure all loose gear.

Do what you can to

protect the injured men.

Remember, the boat will roll to port.

- Captain, do you really

think that's gonna work?

- Caruso, what can I tell you?

It'll either work or

blow us to kingdom come.

- All right.

Now move it right up so the

base is flush against that rock.

- Easy, Gates.

- Why doesn't he shut up?

- Yeah.

I'm nervous enough as it is.

- You're doing great for an amateur.

- Thanks, Captain.

I needed that.

Let's get the hell out of here.

Oh, yeah.

That really gets the adrenaline going.

- We all set?

- Yeah.

All I have to do now is push

that little plunger up there.

- Okay.

Bennett, we're coming up.

- All right, stand by

to bring Snark aboard.

Charges will be detonated

right after its arrival.

Pass the word to DSRV.

They will prepare to launch

one minute after that.

- Aye, sir.

- Now all hands stand alert

on DSRV launching stations.

Be prepared to launch on command.

Personnel, take their positions

and await launching signal.

- Here we go.

That's it. That's it.

That's it. Come on!

Bring her down.

Be ready with the ladder.

- Standing by to transfer

you to Pigeon, sir.

- Thank you.

Do you operate this?

- No, sir, only the lieutenant.

- Thanks, Waters.

Bennett, I'm going back down.

- Gates.

- I have to.

How else are we gonna know?

- All right.

But go easy, will you?

- Don't get too close, Captain.

- Excuse me, sir, excuse me.

Come on.

Come on, I gotta get in there first!

- Two's a crowd this time, Mickey.

- Now, wait a minute.

Just hold it!

- Take her down.

- Sir!

- All right, let's go!

Both the DSRV and Snark on this?

- Aye, sir.

- DSRV, this is Bennett.

Stand by.

- Roger.

Standing by to launch.

- Gates, give yourself a safe margin.

- So long as I can see her.

- 1,300, Gates.

That's close enough.

- Make it 1,400.

I'll throw in an extra pair of pants.

- Okay, brace yourself.

- Hold on tight.

- Get a good grip.

- Here we go.

- All right.

Come on.

- I got her, Captain.

- Yes, we see her.

Prepare to detonate.

Waters, this is Bennett.

Standby for countdown.

15 seconds from mark.

- 14, 13, 12, 11, 10,

niner, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

- Execute!

- Come on, make it work!

- Come on!

- It's gotta work.

- Come on!

- It's going over the edge.

Gates!

- No!

No, goddamn it, no!

- It's working.

It's working!

They're holding firm.

Launch the DSRV.

- Roger.

Launching underway.

- Page, that

compartment's flooded, right?

- Sure is, Captain.

- Let's start getting

the badly injured men

up to the escape hatch.

They'll be the first ones out.

Come on, move it, they'll

be here any minute.

- Captain, can I take my camera, sir?

- Caruso, no personal, oh,

stick it in your shirt.

- Come on.

- Come on.

- Okay.

- One at a time.

One at a time.

- Keep moving.

That's it.

Be careful.

- Got your footing.

- Come on.

- Come on.

- Go easy, easy.

- You the fella that called

for a bucket of chicken?

- Yeah.

What took you so long?

- Hand down the oxygen.

- Tell them to move it.

Not too stable here.

- Hook those up down there.

- All right, shoes off, everybody.

Let's move it, we haven't got all day.

- Come on, guys.

- Caruso, give me some help.

- Come on.

- Yeah, let's go.

- Fowler, you're in the first load.

- But, sir, I think I should--

- All right, knock it off.

That's an order.

- Yes, sir.

- Easy, son.

Watch his ribs.

All right.

Keep it moving.

- I got you.

- Come on.

Take it easy.

- Come on! Move!

- Pigeon Control, come in, over.

Pigeon Control.

- We read you. Over.

- Captain Bennett here.

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