Captain Ranson stood at the edge of the group of engineers as they inspected the data from the miniature sub they had dropped through the ice. He sipped the coffee he had made from a pack of powder and hot water. Anderson was up at the helm. He needed to get back up there, but he wanted to see the movie indicators himself.
He doubted they needed someone like him to offer opinions. They were just paying him to fly them back to Mars when they were done.
The lines moved industriously. Even to his uneducated eyes, it looked like there was something there they could inspect and salvage. If it was the Argo, they could all be rich.
He waited for Herd to tell him what the next move was going to be. He wondered if they had some way to crack the ice open and lift the battered warship to the surface.
He figured she would want to rush that to make sure they actually had the Argo in hand.
He was staying on the Cordie. He had experience with suits and moving in hostile environments. He knew a little about salvaging things. He didn't want to risk his neck when he could stay on the cargo ship and watch through the screens on the Bridge.
He wondered how good Herd's people dived. He supposed the drone pilot would be able to stay back and let his robot do some of the work. The others were going to have to drop into a deep sea, find a way onboard the damaged ship, and start trying to fix the engines if they could.
Otherwise, they would have to think of a way to lift the ship off the ocean floor without it breaking apart.
Some of them had to be at least adequate. The university wouldn't send someone incompetent on a job like this.
He wondered if he would have to get on a suit and go down to take a closer look at things.
He wasn't looking forward to anything like that.
“It's a wreck all right,” said Hall. “We'll have to search for the name on the bridge to make sure it's the Argo.”
“We're going to need to send the submersible inside to look around, and then we're going to have to look for ourselves,” said Herd.
“That part should be a snap,” said Marner. “There are holes along the sides. Some of them are big enough for the drone.”
“Any chance something is still inside?,” said Ranson. He supposed they had forgotten he was there from the way he had startled them.
“We don't have any way to know for sure,” said Herd. “The logs didn't indicate a pitched battle inside even though some of the crew saw these monsters and Captain Suburu was out of contact as his ship resumed its voyage.”
“So the signal could be a Cent having survived all these years under the ice?,” asked Captain Ranson.
“It's a possibility,” said Herd. “We are going to use the drone as bait before I go over and look the thing over myself.”
“I think you're going to need an armed crew to go in with you,” said Hall.
“I'll take Tom,” said Herd. “We can try to access some of the systems on the bridge if they are operable.”
“Someone is going to have to inspect Engineering to figure out why the signal is being emitted and if the engines are capable of going live,” said Hall.
“Tom can do that after we inspect the bridge,” said Herd. “Once we have a catalogue of damage assessments, we can decide which ones we can concentrate on to help us out with lifting the ship off the bottom.”
“You should take the whole crew,” said Ranson. “Marner and I'll watch from up here in case you run into trouble.”
Herd looked at her three minions. They seemed excited to explore something new to them. Marner eased back in his chair. He let the submersible hover while they came to a decision about their next course of action.
“All right,” said Herd. “Cory, go ahead with the drone search. We want to see as much of the interior as we can. As soon as we have a plan of attack, we'll suit up and head over ourselves.”
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“We're going to need the insulated equipment bags,” said Hall.
“We're going to need the armored suits for protection,” said River. “What do you think, Jase?”
“We need to see the Engineering section for ourselves,” said Jase. “Then we'll know what kind of equipment we'll really need. At the very least, we are going to need plates to fix any holes so we can pump the water out of the wreck so we can raise it.”
“If the engines will power up without trouble,” said Ranson. “You might be able to create a bubble of air to help create a space you can operate in.”
“The Argo had the new shield work from DeSanti, didn't it?,” said Hall.
“We might not be able to power them,” said River. “We might have to take a small generator over to jumpstart the Argo's systems back online.”
“Let's start with a closer look around the outside,” said Herd. “None of this might be necessary if the ship broke in two. Once we make sure that it is structurally together, we start listing repairs and what we have to do to get it spaceworthy. Captain Ranson, at some point, we might have to send you back to Mars to get more supplies. We should have an idea on what we need by that point.”
“I got it,” said Ranson. “I'll take Mister Marner back with me to expedite the loading and packing so we can return as fast as possible.”
“All right,” said Herd. “I think we have shelters for living on the ice, but I would rather shelter inside the wreck if we can make it survivable.”
“We'll have to pack enough food and water for a week if we resort to that,” said Jase.
“Right now,” said Ranson. “We have enough for a month of surface life on the Cordie. If I have to resupply, I would like to be able to leave two weeks worth here unless I am ferrying all of you back and forth to Mars.”
“Let's do the outside survey,” said Herd. “Then we can go over the recording for anything that stands out. I will make the call after I am sure we can live on the Argo while you are getting our supplies.”
“I'll send Mister Anderson down so he can take part in the discussion,” said Ranson. “There should be an easy shot to Mars and back depending on what you want to buy to get your salvage started.”
“Very few people know what we're trying to do,” said Herd. “People are going to want to pry into the University's business.”
“Mister Marner and I will pick up everything and come back as fast as possible,” said Ranson. “I'll try to keep an eye out, but if someone wants to trace our route, there's not much I can do to stop them. The Cordie is not armed up to take on other ships.”
“I dreamed of an expedition like this for years,” said Herd. “There is so much that could go wrong, even if it looks like we found our prize on the first shot.”
“Go ahead,” said Ranson. He waved his cup of coffee at the group. “The next thing you people will know is the blaze of glory and fame at finding the one ship that turned a historic tide and saved humanity.”
“Or we'll be explaining how we wasted a ton of money on a wild good chase, and never get a chance like this again,” said Hall.
“An exam will confirm our find,” said River. She gestured at the screen. “I'm sure that is the Argo just from the look of it sitting on the bottom.”
Ranson took his cup up to the bridge. Anderson sat in the co-pilot's seat, looking at the weather outside the Cordie.
“They found something,” said Ranson. “They are taking footage of it. I told Doctor Herd I would send you down in case you needed your own view of things.”
“Thank you,” said Anderson. He undid the harness. “Is it the Argo?”
“River thinks it is just from the profile,” said Ranson. He slid into the pilot's chair. “The others seem less than convinced.”
“All right,” said Anderson. He climbed out of the cockpit and headed for the crew section.
Ranson checked his third screen. A couple of button pushes echoed the view from the submersible. He had no idea if he was looking at the Argo, or not. He did think whatever ship they had found would need a lot of work to get back into the air.
He was glad that wasn't his problem unless he had to stay on and escort the wreck to Mars.
Herd would probably let him know what the plan was before too much longer. She seemed determined and quick to adjust to reach her goal. He admitted that he had not expected to see her again after the initial survey.
Look at him now, piloting a bigger ship than his tug, and a part of his first historical salvage from a planetary surface.
The main problem was could they salvage the wreck from the bottom of the ocean. If they couldn't, what did they do with it? Taking it apart and taking the pieces back to Mars to be reassembled was just as much work as trying to raise it.
He doubted Herd was going to give up after all the time she had probably invested in finding the thing.
He would rule out any attempt to lift the thing with the Cordie. That would wreck and strand them on Titan. They would be better off just shooting each other, or walking out into the dark night like that one Artic explorer on Earth.
He watched the screen as the submersible mapped the outside of the wreck. A computer program matched each section with the known profile of the Argo as it circled around. Gaps in the hull matched where the ship had taken hits before it hit the ice above it. Why hadn't the Cents sent someone to make sure the ship was destroyed?
Maybe the Captain had done more damage than he had been credited with on that last suicide attack that he had performed to protect the system from the invasion.
Ranson spotted a small glow at the stern. He blinked for a second.
“Mister Marner,” he said into the ship's intercom. “Can you do another run around the stern, please?”
“Sure,” said Marner. The submersible obeyed his commands and focused on the rear of the downed ship.
“One of your engines is lit,” said Captain Ranson. “That's probably the source of your signal.”