June 30, 2016
Undisclosed Location North of the Arctic Circle
USCGC Polar Night
I could not tell you this before, but the clearance process
means everything reaches you about a week after it happens, so there is no
danger of releasing classified operational information.
I have been seconded to a top secret Coast Guard Icebreaker,
the Polar Night. This ship is unlisted in the official records, so you can’t
see it on the web. It isn’t like the other Coast Guard Icebreakers. This ship
is designed to go deep into the Arctic for months at a time. It is actually a
combination icebreaker/submarine.
It has on board laboratories for biology, physics,
chemistry, you name it! The ship has its own super-computing facilities and can
do a full on genome in house.
I don’t know much about why they want me here or what I am
supposed to do. We’ve only been at sea for a day. I got here on an emergency
jet to Barrow, Alaska. I got on bored the ship and immediately it submerged and
headed for the North Pole. I haven’t even had ships orientation.
But here’s the craziest thing about this ship. In the
middle, almost as though the ship is built around it, is an enormous water tank
– bigger than an Olympic Pool! I asked about doing laps in it, but they said
no, they had to keep it at Arctic temperatures. That doesn’t sound right,
because I’ve seen people – not in wetsuits – swimming in it (they also didn’t
have scuba gear and were really deep in this tank.)
The food is pretty good, but not much variety. Fish-sticks,
fish-sticks, fish-sticks.
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July 2, 2016
Undisclosed Location North of the Arctic Circle
USCGC Polar Night
This morning (well you don’t really know if it is morning,
we are deep under-water and when we surface, it’s Arctic summer so the sun is
up constantly, so day and night have no real meaning), the ship sirens woke me.
The intercom blared, “Report to battle stations.”
I threw on my clothes and reported to the bridge. I didn’t
know what the Captain wanted me to do, but she told that was my battle station.
“Mr. Starrs,” Captain Mastronati ordered, “Best estimates,
how big is our encounter and what is it.”
“Predictive engine says a SeaSlug, about 20 tons. Confidence
is on 45%,” the data tech answered.
“SeaSlug…” I muttered, “Is that a new kind of Russian
mini-sub, I’ve never heard of it.”
Mr. Lopez (who was actually a woman I’d had lunch with –
fish-sticks) whispered, “This is not a Russian sub. You’ll see. I’ll answer any
questions.”
The Captain ordered the tech crew, “Get us in closer and get
it up on SonScape.”
I heard the distant hum of the ships engines get a little
louder, still quiet considering the size. A giant hologram appeared in the
middle of the bridge.
“That’s SonScape, it’s an in-depth visualization of the
space around the ship using sonar,” Lopez whispered.
Something moved through the corner of the hologram, just
crossing the corner – fast.
“That is NOT a SeaSlug! Way to fast.” Mr. Starr exclaimed.
“Mr. Trang, I would like to try our new pulse lance. Do you
think you can hit this thing?”
“Yes sir!” Trang said with a grin.
Then things were silent. We waited. The blip flitted across
the corner of the hologram a few more times. Then it was solidly inside the
hologram, swimming around. A weird conic blur went through the hologram towards
the “thing” and it stopped moving.
“Nice shot!” someone exclaimed.
“Move in closer for pick-up. Divers ready at 50 meters,” the
Captain ordered.
A few minutes later the “thing” on the hologram was close.”
“Let’s show Mr. Mannes what we’ve found. Visual!”
“Dr. Mannes,” I muttered, but stopped talking suddenly. The
hologram shifted to a giant projection. Nest to the ship was an enormous sea
creature. It didn’t look like a fish, more reptilian, like a giant lizard with
bumpy skin and huge eyes. Except it had four little T-Rex arms near its mouth.
“A little one. Only 20 tons,” Lopez whispered. “About the
size of a blue whale.”
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