Tony sat up on the bridge with Mike and Theresa, moving the cameras around outside to film the carcass of the blue whale that had landed just north of the Challenger. It was almost two hundred yards away from the ship and the black smoker, but in an area the size of the Pacific Ocean, it would be considered a bull’s-eye.
Jess was still down in the sickbay with Jim, and Tony looked glum about what had transpired between them. Ted walked in briskly and sat in Jim’s chair. It didn’t sit well with Tony or Mike, but they remained silent.
“Okay, here’s the deal as I see it. Jim is incapacitated indefinitely. Until he is able to assume command, I will oversee daily operations as outlined in the chain of command prior to the mission. I spoke at length with Dr. Clark, and she is very concerned that Commander Lewis is exhibiting the exact same symptoms as Ian did before he passed away. The doctor and I agree that this vessel cannot surface until such time that we are sure the bacteria is under control. We can’t risk bringing this thing up to the surface and unleashing some superbug on the population until we know how to deal with it. I will continue working with the samples I have, and I will draw blood from the commander to confirm our suspicions. Everyone else appears to be healthy, including Dr. Clark, which is the good news. We will continue our mission as normally as possible, given the current situation. Jim is a good friend to all of us, and I know everyone is concerned. Quite frankly, surfacing now won’t help him if it’s the same strain that infected Ian. We have a better chance of helping him down here through my research than by going to some hospital that’s never even seen this bug.”
Mike shook his head. “So we just watch him die like Ian and do nothing?”
“I’m afraid there’s not much we can do, Mike. Doctor Clark is giving antibiotics and fluids...”
“They did Ian a lot of good!” interrupted Mike.
“I believe Dr. Clark may have given up too early on Ian,” he said quietly.
“What does that mean?” asked Mike.
He shrugged and chose his words carefully. “Ian was going through physiological changes. He was presumed dead and jettisoned.”
“What the fuck does that mean? Presumed dead?” exclaimed Mike.
Ted stared at him calmly. “There are things we’re only beginning to understand. I’ll say this—should the commander expire, he will not be jettisoned. He will be kept under observation.”
Tony sat back and folded his arms across his chest. He spoke quietly and slowly. “When Ian was still stuck on the smoker, and he was on camera, Jim said he thought he saw him trying to speak. Jim thought maybe he was still alive out there. Did you see anything?”
Ted shrugged. “I’m not sure what I saw.”
“Bullshit!” said Mike, now standing up. “Was he alive out there or not?” His face was red and Theresa grabbed his wrist to pull him away from Ted.
“I don’t know. I just think he may have been jettisoned prematurely. He wasn’t Ian anymore, that I’m quite sure of—but perhaps he wasn’t quite dead in the literal sense.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” screamed Mike. He looked at Tony. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kick his ass . . .”
Ted stood up. “Michael, I have a third-degree black belt in Kar-Do-Jitsu Ryu. I assure you if you’d like to throw hands here on the bridge, I will permanently injure you and see you are charged with mutiny if you survive.”
“You hear this shit, Tony? Mutiny? Where the fuck do you think you are, Ted?”
Tony stood up and got between them. “Mike, chill out.” He put his hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Ted’s the acting commander. You don’t have to like him, but you do have to listen to him. We can’t start fighting amongst ourselves, man. We have bigger problems. Let’s figure out what’s wrong with Jim, get him better, and finish this mission, okay?”
Mike pushed Tony’s hand off his shoulder and walked toward the doorway. “The only thing I heard here that I agree with is that I don’t have to like this asshole.” He stormed out of the bridge.
“Let him go,” said Ted. “He’s upset. It’s okay. Everyone reacts to stress differently. Now—you all have your work to do. Jess will keep us posted on Jim’s condition, and I will see what I can do in the lab that might help. If you need me, my door is always open. We are on the same team,” he said with his fake smile.
After Ted left the bridge, Tony sat with Theresa. The two of them hadn’t spoken privately very often, and the fact that she had been working closely with Ted made Tony cautious. Still, he had to know where she was at. He sat in his chair, elbows on his knees, and looked at her with tired eyes.
“So what do you think?” he asked.
“Jesus, Tony. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Ian was a good friend of Mike’s, and mine too. That was bad enough. But now Jim, too? What does that mean for the rest of us? Are we gonna leave a dead sub at the bottom of the ocean? Is this our tomb, Tony?”
“I hadn’t thought ahead that far.”
“I’m sorry—I’m not having a pity party for myself. I just . . . if Jim has what Ian had . . .”
“I know. And if Jim dies, then what? We watch Ted carve him up and use him as an experiment?”
“I don’t know what to think about that. Ted was very upset about jettisoning Ian. He thinks maybe if we had studied him, we might have learned a lot. Hell, maybe it would help us save Jim.”
“You trust Ted?”
She looked him hard in the face. “I had this conversation with Mike too many times already. Ted’s different than you guys—he a brainiac geek and you guys don’t connect with him, but I don’t think he’d do anything to put us in jeopardy.”
“So that’s a yes?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. That’s fine. He’s the commanding officer. Jess is pissed as hell at me right now that I didn’t stick up for her, but I’m a navy guy. Making her commanding officer just because I like her more than Ted isn’t an option. And I’m sure Mike isn’t through with that issue, either.”
“I’ll work on Mike,” she said quietly.
“He likes you, you know.”
She forced a smile. “I like him, too, Tony. But I didn’t come down here to start dating, know what I mean?”
“Hey, I hear ya. I’m just sayin’—be gentle on the guy. He’s a hothead hard-ass, but he’s a mush.”
“I’m glad you’re his friend, Tony.”
Tony shrugged. “Listen, we’re either gonna finish this mission or we’re not. We’re gonna make it out alive, or we’re not. I’ve been on subs my whole adult life. I’m used to not having control over my destiny. I don’t like Ted, but he knows this ship better than anyone, even Jim. We’ll all do our best. It’s all we can do.”
“Must be weird, huh—serving on a sub where your life is totally in the hands of someone else at all times.”
“What the hell you think you’re doing now?”
“This was a one-time deal. It’s stressful as hell. I couldn’t imagine living like this all the time.”
Tony chuckled. “Every member of the crew knows his exact job. As long as each person does their part, it’s all good.”
“Yeah—and if the skipper screws up?”
“Then we all go swimming for a few seconds,” he said with a shrug.
“You’re all crazy.”
“It helps. C’mon—let’s go talk Mike off the ledge and see how Jim is doing.”