Carol could tell that Nick was growing more suspicious. Nick thought it was very peculiar that there were three Navy divers in the water at the exactly correct location when one of the carpets ushered Troy to the surface. And Troy’s report of the interrogation process after they had flown him to Key West was so confused that Nick became exasperated again.
“Christ, Jefferson,” he said, “you either have a very short or a very convenient memory. You tell us that the Navy kept you in custody for almost an hour, yet you hardly remember any of their questions and have no idea why they were interrogating you. That just doesn’t sound right to me.”
Troy was becoming a little angry. “Shit, Nick, I told you that I was tired. I had been through a traumatic experience. Their questions didn’t make sense to me. And the entire time I felt as if a little voice was trying to make itself heard inside my head.”
Nick turned to Carol. “I think I’m changing my mind. I don’t want to play in this game, no matter how clever it is. Homer and Greta annoy me, but I can deal with them if it’s necessary. On the other hand, the Navy scares me. There was some reason they were following us. It’s just too damn unlikely to be a coincidence. Maybe Troy knows something about it and maybe he doesn’t. I can’t tell. But I don’t like the smell of it.”
He stood up to leave. Carol motioned for Nick to sit down and took a deep breath. “Look, you two,” she said in a low voice. “I have a confession to make. And it seems as if this is the perfect time to make it I did not come down here to Key West to look for whales.” She glanced at Nick. “And not for treasure either. I came here to check out a rumor that a new Navy missile had gone astray and crashed in the Gulf of Mexico.” She paused several seconds to let her message register. “I probably should have told you earlier. But I never found the right time. I’m truly sorry.”
“And you thought the missile was in the fissure,” said Troy a few seconds later. “Which was why you came back yesterday.”
“We were going to salvage it for you and give you a worldwide scoop,” added Nick, his feeling of betrayal softened somewhat by the obvious sincerity of her apology. “You were using us all the time.”
“You could call it that,” Carol conceded, “but as a reporter, I don’t see it that way.” She noticed the tension in the room. Nick seemed especially guarded. “But now it doesn’t matter anyway,” she continued. “What is important is that I have given an explanation for the Navy’s presence at the dive site. During the last two days I have made several inquiries at all levels about the clandestine activities that the Navy currently has underway to search for the missile. Last night that Mexican lieutenant got a good look at our best close-ups of the missile in the fissure. Undoubtedly someone put two and two together.”
“Look, angel,” Troy spoke after another short silence, “I don’t know anything about a missile. And too much is going on for me to be hurt because you lied to me. I’m sure you had your reasons. What I need to know now is whether or not you will help me take this stuff back to the ETs or aliens or whatever you want to call them.”
Before Carol could answer, Nick stood up again and started walking toward the door. “I’m very hungry,” he announced, “and I want to think through this entire situation. If you don’t mind, Troy, I’ll have an early supper and meet you later on tonight with my answer.”
Carol realized that she also was extremely hungry. It had been a long, exhausting day and she had not eaten anything significant since breakfast. She was also a little concerned about Nick’s response to her confession. “Why don’t I join you for a bite?” she said to Nick. He gave a noncommittal shrug, as if to say suit yourself. Carol gave Troy a hug.
“Let’s all meet at my room in the Marriott around seven-thirty. I have to go there anyway to dress for my interview with the triple creeps. You guys can give me some pointers.”
Her humor did not lighten the atmosphere in the room. Troy was clearly worried about something. His face was very earnest, almost stern. “Professor,” he said to Nick in a soft and deliberate monotone, “I know I didn’t have all the answers to your questions. I don’t even have the answers to my own. But I do know one thing for certain. Nothing like this has ever happened on the Earth before. At least not in recorded history. The creatures who built that spaceship are, when compared to us, as we would appear to the ants or the bees if they could comprehend us. They have asked the three of us for help in repairing their vehicle. To say that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would be a colossal under-statement.
“It would be great if we could sit around and debate this issue for weeks or even months. But we can’t. Time is running out. The Navy is certain to find them soon, maybe they have already, with possibly dire circumstances for the human beings on this planet. They have made it clear to me that their mission must be fulfilled, that they must repair their vehicle and continue their voyage, even if they must interfere with the Earth system to achieve their goal.
“I know all this sounds incredible, maybe even absurd. But I am going to collect some lead weights from my diver friends and pick up the compact discs at the library. With or without your help, I want to be over their spaceship at dawn tomorrow.”
Nick studied Troy very carefully during this speech. For an instant in the middle, it seemed as if it were not Troy speaking at all, but someone or something else speaking through him. An eerie chill raced down Nick’s spine. Shit, he thought. I’m as bad as they are. I’m now caught up in this thing too. He gestured to Carol to follow him and walked out the door.
7
As I have told you twice before?” the voice sounded tired and bored, “I was out diving with my friends, Nick Williams and Carol Dawson. She had a problem with her equipment and decided to make a quick return to the boat. We had found a particularly interesting reef, with some very unusual features, and we weren’t certain we would be able to locate it again. So I decided to stay and wait for her to come back. When I finally surfaced half an hour later, there was no sign of them or the boat.”
The recorder clicked off. The two lieutenants stared at each other. “Shit, Ramirez, do you believe that bastard’s story? Any part of it?” The other man shook his head. “Then why the hell did you let him go? That black shitass sat there for an hour, making fools out of us with ridiculous answers to our questions. and then you summarily released him.”
“We can’t detain someone without positive evidence of wrong doing,” responded Ramirez, as if he were quoting from a military manual. “And swimming in the ocean ten miles from the nearest island, although strange, does not constitute wrong doing.” Ramirez could see that his colleague was scowling. “Besides, he never slipped up. He always told exactly the same story.”
“The same bullshit, you mean.” Lieutenant Richard Todd leaned back in his chair. The two men were sitting around a small conference table in an old room with white plaster walls. The tape recorder was on the table in front of them next to an empty ashtray. “He didn’t even believe his own story. He just sat there, that cocky grin on his black face, knowing that we couldn’t charge him with anything.” Todd put all four of his chair legs back on the floor and pounded the table for emphasis. “An experienced diver would never stay down by himself for five minutes, much less thirty. Too many things could go wrong. As for his friends, why the hell did they leave him?” Now Todd stood up and made gestures in the air with his hands. “I’ll tell you why, Lieutenant. Because they knew he was all right, that he had been picked up by a Russian submarine. Shit, I told you we should have taken one of the new vessels. We probably could have spotted the sub with the upgraded electronic gear.”
Ramirez was playing idly with the glass ashtray while Todd was giving his lecture. “You really believe that those three are involved with the Russians in this, don’t you? It sure seems farfetched to me.”