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"IN HARM'S WAY"
AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN
By Robert J. Simmons
Chapter Twenty Six

     
"Waves are now at least twenty feet," Sandra said to me, the
Diana's bow often completely disappearing into the swells now. I
nodded, well aware of the fact that although the Diana could
withstand far greater waves bows on, turning the ship into the
"trough" of the waves could spell disaster for us all if the ship
was ever tilted more than forty five degrees from the horizontal.
The "roll" of the ship due to taking the waves on her port quar-
ter was something that worried me just a bit here. The "roll
limit" for the Diana was no more than forty five degrees, and we
were at times going almost thirty right now! Headed straight
into the waves there was no problem, but we couldn't continue on
the course we were on now without risking a "roll over" if the
sea got up much more than what it was! I'd ridden through one
storm this size aboard the North Star with Queen Maris in com-
mand, and she'd been forced to drop sea anchors and ride it out!!
     
"Darlanis and the others have been forced to heave to," I
answered, well aware of the latest report of the midshipman , al-
though I still had the power yet to smash through these waves
like a battering ram! The Diana could handle anything nature
could throw at her! She was superior to any surface ship built!!
     
"They will drift to leewards faster than we will," she said.
The storm filling the sky there ahead of us. I could see the
flash of lightning, even heard the "rumble" now of the thunder...
     
"They know where we're heading," I answered, the view quite
blurred there through the glass covered forward viewing slits.
At times now the visibility was cut completely back to "zero"!
     
"We need to cut back on the engines," Sandra said to me. I
could tell that she was "scared", perhaps more so as she didn't
really "understand" the Diana that well. How "strong" it was...
     
"That's the last thing we want to do now," I answered, or-
dering the helmsman to steer directly into the storm so that we
took the waves straight on. The Diana's motions now changing to
just a simple up and down, the stress on the hull muchly reduced!

     
"Go below," I said, the girl nodding thankfully, the water
running off her, her uniform as wet as if she'd been in swimming!
When the Diana smashed through a wave now the spray came up over
the entire forward part of the ship! Fortunately the water
wasn't very cold this time of year, although the impact of the
spray against our bodies was enough to fling us back against the
railing as the entire forward part of the ship disappeared into a
wave! I estimated wave height at nearly twenty five feet, higher
than I'd ever seen before in all the times that I'd been at sea!!
The crack of the thunder and the flash of the lightning reminding
me of heavy gunfire back in another era now only myth and legend.
     
"Going to get worse before it gets better!" Sandra said to
me in a half yell, the "slam" of the waves against the Diana's
armored hull making the ship creak and groan. Given the nature
of the battleship's construction, I wasn't concerned with damage
as such, as the Diana could withstand any "sea" as long as she
was headed into them. Trying to turn the ship however would be
flirting with disaster, especially since the Diana's upper armor
made her somewhat "top-heavy" as compared to any sailing ship...
     
"I'll check around," I said, leaving her standing there.

     
The interior of the Diana was like walking through a shower.
The dripping water everywhere as seawater leaked around the upper
hatches. While such water didn't "hurt" anything, the Diana's
own pumps, driven by her triple steam boilers, being able to han-
dle it, there would be "work" for the crew later in greasing down
everything and seeing that rust didn't start eating away at us!
The men and women of the crew in the semi-darkness of the interi-
or like lost souls clinging to the interior of the ship, a few
swinging lamps our only illumination here inside the battleship.

     
"How `bad' is it?" the engineer asked, her eyes holding
mine. She was a "competent" woman, her caste that of the Build-
ers. She had been Jard Sandar's assistant ever since I had
killed the first one for his "treason" against us. I thought
rather highly of her, although it still seemed a bit strange to
see a woman doing such things that one would expect a man to do.
Daris Adara was married, a mother, a gold chain about her throat
marking her as such. Her husband a Physician in Arsana, I under-
stood. I supposed he liked the exotic sound of her name as much
as I did. They had a slave girl, like most well to do couples...
     
"Not good," I answered in a low voice. "We've been forced
to head directly into the storm to cut the roll down," I ex-
plained to Daris, seeing her nod. After the storm was over we'd
have to head back towards land, our present course being towards
Japan, although we lacked the "fuel range" to travel that far...
     
"We've already had a couple minor injuries from the roll,"
she answered, the halter she wore plastered to her breasts, her
bare midriff and shorts more the attire of another sort of woman.
     
"I'll see what I can do," I replied, giving her a smile.

     
"Engine number two one half reverse," I said, Sandra nod-
ding, pushing the repeater to one half back, although I was well
aware she didn't understand the reasoning here. With one and
three one half forward, number two half reverse, we would slow
the Diana but still keep the ship pointed into the waves. The
almost constant "crack" of the thunder echoing through the hull.
     
"Took the `strain' off her," Sandra said a moment later, the
ship now slowly moving into the waves, the pressure of wind and
wave against the hull such that we were hardly moving forward...
     
"Let's just hope the other ships `survived' this," I said.

     
I watched the moonlight on the waves as the Diana cut
through the water, the sea still high, but nothing like it had
been earlier. Except for some minor burns caused by stumbling
against the hot boilers and steam pipes, we'd come through fine.
The Diana having "proved" herself in a way no one could doubt. I
was now again running at one half ahead on all three engines, our
speed about seven knots or so against these heavy swells we were
now smashing our way through. There had been no sign of the oth-
er ships, Sandra having said that it was likely that they'd been
blown back into the strait and would have to work their way back.
     
"Call me if needed," I said to Sandra, "And get some `rest'
yourself," I added, seeing her nod. She was a good captain. Not
I thought one like Maris or perhaps myself, but she was
"capable", and that was all that really counted here right now...

     
"I expect you were thinking how `nice' it was there on Lor-
raine's estate, weren't you?" I teased Kathi as the slave nodded.
     
"I fear I am not a `sailor'," Kathi smiled, her eyes warm.
     
"But you know how to `pleasure' one," I smiled, undoing her
halter, dropping it to the table, cupping her full firm breasts.

     
"One and three full stop, two slow ahead," I ordered, the
Diana slowly creeping into the bay. Ahead of us a boat, men at
the oars, a man tossing the lead. The chart showed ample water,
but such charts often are not that "accurate" either, I'll note.
The hot late summer sun shining down upon the armored battleship.
A few clouds like puffs of cotton slowly drifting towards the
east. We'd seen nothing yet of the other ships, but I was fairly
sure that they probably had survived the storm considering the
way the wind had been blowing and where the strait was that sepa-
rated Dularn from the mainland. There would be ample "work" for
everyone, both chopping wood for the boilers to conserve our
coal, and repainting the upper hull where the paint had been
washed off by the force of the waves we'd endured two days ago.
"Drop both forward anchors!" I snapped a moment later, the an-
chors slipping into the still waters of the bay with a splash.
"Have a boat take an anchor out astern," I added, Sandra nodding.

     
"Like some great sea monster," Kathi said to me, shading her
eyes as we stood there on shore looking out at the Diana resting
quietly above her reflection. Men and women scrambling over the
hull, tied by ropes to the "backbone" that ran the length of the
ship. As I've mentioned before, the Diana is designed to look
something like a "sea monster", a bit of "psychology" I'd stolen
from Lorraine's earlier painting of her Squala as a great shark.
Some fishermen from a local village having arrived shortly after
we'd anchored with a number of items they wished to sell to us.
A couple of wenches with them who saw some "silver" to be made.
In a society where "sex" and "reproduction" are now two totally
and entirely "different" things people now look upon such matters
much differently than one of the 20th Century might do so here.
     
"I'm going to check the underside of the hull," I told her.
That would also give me the "chance" to try out our new under-
water breathing equipment that I'd perfected a short time before.
     
"I'll take a dive with you," Kathi smiled, her eyes glowing.
The blonde being a strong swimmer, with excellent lungs, I knew.

     
A few fish scurried out of the way as I swam beneath the an-
chored Diana, the great hull like the shadow of a sea monster
over me. The breathing mask allowing me to both see and breathe.
Kathi beside me, completely naked but for her strap and clips,
the golden collar about her throat, the bubbles rising up like
silvery bells from her own breathing mask. Our crude swim fins
sending us beneath the battleship. The leather hoses that sup-
plied us with air curving back behind to the surface of the bay.
     
I worked my way back towards the stern, Kathi beside me, her
bleached hair floating about her head, the planking of the hull
up overhead making me much aware that the Diana was "vulnerable"
from underneath, although since the hull was made of oak planks
six inches thick it'd take some drilling to make a hole in it...
The three great bronze screws motionless in the water just ahead
of us, gleaming in the filtered rays of the sun almost like gold.
Next Chapter


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