Under Darkness by Jasper T Scott

Author:Jasper T Scott [Scott, Jasper T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Anthem Press
Published: 2018-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 39

Commander Morris stood on the bridge of the Port Royal, listening to Captain Reed bark orders to the crew. Admiral Harris had sent them to investigate some anomalous weather patterns at two degrees and five minutes North of the island. The air temperature there was apparently five degrees colder than everything around it and had been so for at least four days. Those readings had been recorded by weather satellites, but Harris wanted them to take supplemental ones from sea level. It seemed like a strange errand for a warship, but Kauai’s harbor was on lock-down. Even the coastguard had been grounded. Only USN ships were allowed to navigate the quarantine zone, and the Port Royal was closest to the anomalous weather region.

“ETA?” Reed asked, glancing at Morris.

He checked his watch. “We are five minutes out from the specified coordinates, sir.”

“Then we should already be able to measure the phenomenon,” Commander Morris said. “The coordinates put us one hundred miles into the low-temperature area.”

“Yes,” Captain Reed replied, nodding. “Let’s go down to CIC and check in with Petty Officer McCown, shall we?”

“Aye, sir,”

Reed gave the conn to Lieutenant Peterson, and they left the bridge together, heading down the stairs to CIC. The CIC was dark, as usual, to help sailors see the information on their screens. Reed walked straight over to McCown’s station. “Petty Officer,” he said. “What are conditions like out there?”

“Temperature and pressure readings are within the normal range, sir,” McCown reported.

“Interesting,” Reed replied while stroking his chin.

Commander Morris noticed McCown stroking his chin, too. He frowned at that, but quickly dismissed it as irrelevant and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. “What’s the temperature?” Morris asked.

“Just three degrees colder than expected, not the five that satellite data indicated.”

“That’s still a difference,” Morris said.

“Yes, sir, but meteorology is hardly a precise science. There could be a million reasons why this area of the ocean is colder.”

Morris nodded. “Including an alien spaceship hovering overhead and blocking out three to five degrees worth of sunlight.”

One of Reed’s eyebrows arched up as he turned to regard Morris. “It’s three degrees, Commander. Not ten or twenty.”

“The difference could grow more pronounced as we sail deeper into the area. We need to report this to Admiral Harris.”

“And we will,” Captain Reed replied. “But it could be caused by ocean currents or cloud cover, or a thousand other things. We shouldn’t feed into mass hysteria by suggesting darker possibilities. Next minute the Admiral will be ordering us to launch missiles into thin air to sound out your invisible spaceship. And even if you’re right, all that would do is start an interstellar war. No, I’m not going to jump at shadows, Commander, nor should you.” He scratched his cheek. McCown scratched his.

Morris frowned. “Are you being insubordinate, Petty Officer?”

“Sir?” McCown asked.

“You keep copying the captain behind his back!”

“I do?”

Captain Reed turned to regard McCown. “Doing what?”

“Just now. You scratched your cheek, and so did he. And before stroking his chin.”

Captain Reed frowned, and then flashed an apologetic look at McCown.

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.