I reached for the clock radio and turned it off. Just yesterday the tropical sun had burned high in a cloudless sky. This morning the rains lashed my glass doors so hard I wondered if they might be blown off their tracks. The ever changing weather was part of living in the middle of the ocean.
The clock said seven thirty. The sound of the falling rain made me close my eyes again. I pulled the blanket closer to my body and went back to my dream.
"Hold on!"
Another explosion rocked the boat and dimmed the emergency lights. Water began to spray everywhere as damage control people scurried around the fallen bodies.
"Lock up that bulkhead!" I shouted to a very distressed looking seaman. "Diving planes twenty degrees up," I motioned to an ensign who just happened to look like Leinani.
What was she doing on my sub?
"Engine room! Can't you give me any power?" I yelled into the intercom. The situation was getting worse. People were scrambling around trying to fix all the leaks.
"Blow all the tanks!"
I motioned to Leinani, "Ensign, come here and give me a kiss."
Leinani and I were rocked off our feet as we hit the bottom.
"Turn off that TV and try to conserve your air. Senior Chief, come with me, we're going forward."
I shot down the ladder with my Senior Chief in tow. We started to make our way towards the torpedo room.
"Chief, there's a chance that someone might pick us up on their sonar. I want you to grab that wrench and start banging on that bulkhead."
"Anything you say skipper."
Leinani was clinging to me. She put her arms around me and kissed me. A pipe burst and drenched us in a spray of water.
The Senior Chief began to pound: thud! thud! thud!
Nothing.
Thud! thud! thud!
My eyes flew open and looked around the room. The morning sun, trying its best to burn away the heavy clouds cast a hazy light through the windows. The rain outside had subsided to a mild drizzle just light enough to keep everything damp.
The drone of the air conditioning and the light smattering of rain against the window glass were the only sounds that came to my ears. My senses reassured me I was at home and not at the bottom of the ocean. My blanket got tangled up in my feet as I sat up and looked for the time. The clock read nine twenty three.
The pounding though, resumed. This time it was someone pounding on my door and not my Senior Chief trying to signal someone at the surface. I had been reading too much Clancy.
The fog engulfed cells that made up my brain told me to ignore it; then again maybe the building was burning down and someone was trying to save me. I almost got a mouthful of rug as I stood up and headed for the door. I kicked the blanket away and threw it back on the bed.
"Yeah? Who's there?"
A female voice identifying herself as Samantha Kim begged to gain entrance. I did a little jig as I struggled to put on a shirt and a pair of shorts at the same time. I usually would have happy to have a woman at my door except I didn't know anyone named Samantha.
I checked the peephole to make sure she was alone. The fish eye view I got was of a woman who kept checking both sides of the hall. She didn't look like she would be too much trouble, then again who did? I unbolted the door and let her in.
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