I then shut off the long range Receiver/Transmitter
to prevent any further argument or questions from Dick. This would not have
prevented any conversation between the three occupants of the buggy however,
yet we travelled the remaining distance to the city in silence. Nick’s silence
was worrying me because in all the years I had known him he had never been
silent for longer than 45 seconds, even when he was asleep.
The scuttlebutt
(maritime version of rumours on the grapevine) on the aircraft carrier while Nick
and I were stationed on it was that Nick snored so loudly that if the aircraft
carrier was going to be sailing closer than 10 kilometres off enemy shores the
Captain commissioned four sailors to guard Nick to ensure that he did not fall
asleep and therefore alert the enemy to our presence. It was told that the
Captain seriously considered making it a permanent detail so that the whole
crew of the carrier could get a decent night’s sleep occasionally! Imagine if
you will the considerable amplification and echo effect in a steel enclosure!
The only way that I can think of for it to be worse would be if Nick was
stationed on a submarine! But one has to ask why the Hell a pilot would be stationed
on a Submarine, unless of course, he was a very bad pilot!
(Those of you who have
read the earlier entries in these historical Chronicles may remember that I do
have a tendency to sometimes ‘ramble on’ when left to my own devices!).
Anyway, after his impassioned
plea to refuse Gorad’s requests Nick sat silently, some might even say
sullenly, in the passenger seat. He didn’t even bother making any smart-arse
derogatory remarks about, or directly at, Gorad. I guessed that the effects of
the momentary drop in his oxygen supply had befuddled his normal behavioural
traits for the time being, as I am pretty sure was the intended effect for
least resistance. One thing I was sure of, however, he sure as hell wasn’t
himself!
After I drove into the
access tunnel and then straight into the open airlock Gorad broke the long
silence,
“I’ve got this, Drew.”
I glanced in the rear
view mirror in time to see Gorad push a button on his watch that made the outer
hangar doors slide shut. While I waited for the airlock to re-pressurize so the
inner airlock doors would slide open I ruminated silently to myself that me
being right all the time can sometimes be a hugely annoying pain in the ass to
me as well as everybody else!
I drove forward into
the city as the inner airlock doors slid open, then pulled up and parked
outside the door to the Terminal Cafe. I climbed out of the buggy then glanced
back at Nick to see if I would have to assist him from the buggy into the Cafe
and watched with relief as he climbed out of the buggy and marched through the
door under his own steam. I followed him then stepped to the right side of the
doorway as I removed my helmet and tucked it under my arm as Nick had just done
on the left of the doorway.
The rest
of the crew looked up at us with mildly enquiring expressions on their faces
which suddenly collapsed into eye-widening, jaw-dropping shock, and I knew that
Gorad had just entered behind us. You could have cut the stunned atmosphere in
the Cafe with a knife, but it would have been a lot easier with a chainsaw I
thought to myself as I turned to look back at Gorad.
No comments:
Post a Comment