The Devil's Voyage by Jack L. Chalker

Author:Jack L. Chalker [Chalker, Jack L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9780385152846
Google: vdC0lcXOtikC
Amazon: 0385152841
Goodreads: 2661377
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 1981-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Don Sobel was enjoying life again. There was nothing like a ship at sea; the feel of the great engines, the slow, monotonous slight rocking, the feeling of community as well—the ship was really a small town.

They'd given him greenies and no chance to whip them into shape. He liked them, though, and did what he could with small drills and a lot of routine work. He loved his boys already, though. They were closer to him than his own children, of whom he tried to think very little. A failure in his private family, he was a roaring success as boss, father figure, confessor, and adviser to this Navy one.

Among his youngsters the rumors about the cargo ran especially high. No mention had been made of the small container, which he'd correctly guessed was the whole ball game, and the more imaginative lads were thinking everything from some super kind of V-2s that would level Jap cities from a great distance to really crazy stuff like a kind of radar that would kill only Orientals. He neither knew nor cared if any were the truth. He dutifully noted them all.

His friendliness had already made him the center of these young boys' lives, though, and they constantly badgered him about the subject. "Come on, Chief, what's the dope on this thing?" "You know everything—you got to know what it is. Spill it."

Finally he just got sick of it and told them, "Look, I hear tell they didn't even tell the Old Man. What's the difference? If it's anything big we'll hear about it when it's used. If it isn't, well, better guess big than be disappointed, huh? I bet if we knew we'd be let down anyway."

That neither satisfied them nor stopped it but it helped a little.

Even the chiefs wardroom wasn't immune and he thought he'd blow his stack seeing men as old and experienced as he acting just like the recruits.

Coyle, his old friend, commiserated with him. Luckily their duty hours coincided so they were able to keep in fairly constant contact. Coyle was not only a familiar face but also an introduction to the others. He was the veteran old pro they all wanted to show off to.

"What bothers me most," Coyle grumped, "is that the ship's so stuffed with passengers and shit that we haven't been able to so much as hold an abandon-ship drill, a battle-stations drill, anything "

Sobel was philosophical. "What can you do, Johnny? I hear tell we'll drop most of the stuff at Pearl and that'll help a little bit. When we get rid of this cargo it'll be smooth sailing."

Coyle was suddenly interested. "You mean you know we're gonna drop the cargo at Pearl?"

Sobel threw up his hands. "Not you, too!" he sighed. "Well, for your information I just happened to hear that it won't be dropped at Pearl but somewhere up in the Forward Area. Won't be long, though."

"You know what it is?" pressed Coyle.

"I do not. And I don't want to know," Sobel said flatly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.