H. M. S. Ulysses (39 page)

‘I think so, sir.' Hartley, blackened and stained with smoke and extinguisher foam, passed his sleeve wearily across his face. ‘The worst is over . . . Where's Lieutenant Carslake? Shouldn't he—?'

‘Forget him,' Carrington interrupted brusquely. ‘I don't know where he is, nor do I care. There's no need for us to beat about the bush, Chief—we're better without him. If he returns,
you're
still in charge. Look after things.'

He turned away, walked quickly for'ard along the port alley. On the packed snow and ice, the pad of his rubber seaboots was completely soundless.

He was passing the shattered canteen when he saw a tall, shadowy figure standing in the gap between the snow-covered lip of the outer torpedo tube and the end stanchion of the guard-rails, trying to open a jammed extinguisher valve by striking it against the stanchion. A second later, he saw another blurred form detach itself stealthily from the shadows, creep up stealthily behind the man with the extinguisher, a heavy bludgeon of wood or metal held high above his head.

‘Look out!' Carrington shouted. ‘Behind you!'

It was all over in two seconds—the sudden, flailing rush of the attacker, the crash as the victim, lightning fast in his reactions, dropped his extinguisher and fell crouched to his knees, the thin piercing scream of anger and terror as the attacker catapulted over the stooping body and through the gap between tubes and rails, the splash—and then the silence.

Carrington ran up to the man on the deck, helped him to his feet. The last flare had not yet died, and it was still light enough for him to see who it was—Ralston, the LTO. Carrington gripped his arms, looked at him anxiously.

‘Are you all right? Did he get you? Good God, who on earth—?'

‘Thank you, sir.' Ralston was breathing quickly, but his face was almost expressionless again. ‘That was too close! Thank you very much, sir.'

‘But who on earth—?' Carrington repeated in wonder.

‘Never saw him, sir.' Ralston was grim. ‘But I know who it was— Sub-Lieutenant Carslake. He's been following me around all night, never let me out of his sight, not once. Now I know why.'

It took much to disturb the First Lieutenant's iron equanimity, but now he shook his head in slow disbelief.

‘I knew there was bad blood!' he murmured. ‘But that it should come to this! What the Captain will say to this I just—'

‘Why tell him?' Ralston said indifferently. ‘Why tell anyone? Perhaps Carslake had relations. What good will it do to hurt them, to hurt anyone. Let anyone think what they like.' He laughed shortly. ‘Let them think he died a hero's death fire-fighting, fell over the side, anything.' He looked down into the dark, rushing water, then shivered suddenly. ‘Let him go, sir, please. He's paid.'

For a long second Carrington, too, stared down over the side, looked back at the tall boy before him. Then he clapped his arm, nodded slowly and turned away.

Turner heard the clanging of the gate, lowered the binoculars to find Carrington standing by his side, gazing wordlessly at the burning cruiser. Just then Vallery moaned softly, and Carrington looked down quickly at the prone figure at his feet.

‘My God! The Old Man! Is he hurt badly, sir?'

‘I don't know, Number One. If not, it's a bloody miracle,' he added bitterly. He stooped down, raised the dazed Captain to a sitting position.

‘Are you all right, sir?' he asked anxiously. ‘Do you—have you been hit?'

Vallery shuddered in a long, exhausting paroxysm of coughing, then shook his head feebly.

‘I'm all right,' he whispered weakly. He tried to grin, a pitiful, ghastly travesty of a smile in the reflected light from the burning Aldis. ‘I dived for the deck, but I think the binnacle got in my way.' He rubbed his forehead, already bruised and discoloured. ‘How's the ship, Commander?'

‘To hell with the ship!' Turner said roughly. He passed an arm round Vallery, raised him carefully to his feet. ‘How are things aft, Number One?'

‘Under control. Still burning, but under control. I left Hartley in charge.' He made no mention of Carslake.

‘Good! Take over. Radio
Stirling, Sirrus
, see how they are. Come on, sir. Shelter for you!'

Vallery protested feebly, a token protest only, for he was too weak to stand. He checked involuntarily as he saw the snow falling whitely through the barred beam of the Aldis, slowly followed the beam back to its source.

‘Bentley?' he whispered. ‘Don't tell me . . . ' He barely caught the Commander's wordless nod, turned heavily away. They passed by the dead man stretched outside the gate, then stopped at the Asdic cabinet. A sobbing figure was crouched into the angle between the shelter and the jammed and shattered door of the hut, head pillowed on the forearm resting high against the door. Vallery laid a hand on the shaking shoulder, peered into the averted face.

‘What is it? Oh, it's you, boy.' The white face had been lifted towards him. ‘What's the matter, Chrysler?'

‘The door, sir!' Chrysler's voice was muffled, quivering. ‘The door—I can't open it.'

For the first time, Vallery looked at the cabinet, at the gashed and torn metal. His mind was still dazed, exhausted, and it was almost by a process of association that he suddenly, horrifyingly thought of the gashed and mangled operator that must lie behind that locked door.

‘Yes,' he said quietly. ‘The door's buckled . . . There's nothing anyone can do, Chrysler.' He looked more closely at the grief-dulled eyes. ‘Come on, my boy, there's no need—'

‘My brother's in there, sir.' The words, the hopeless despair, struck Vallery like a blow. Dear God! He had forgotten . . . Of course— Leading Asdic Operator Chrysler . . . He stared down at the dead man at his feet, already covered with a thin layer of snow.

‘Have that Aldis unplugged, Commander, will you?' he asked absently. ‘And Chrysler?'

‘Yes, sir.' A flat monotone.

‘Go below and bring up some coffee, please.'

‘Coffee, sir!' He was bewildered, uncomprehending. ‘Coffee! But—but—my—my brother—'

‘I know,' Vallery said gently. ‘I know. Bring some coffee, will you?'

Chrysler stumbled off. When the shelter door closed behind them, clicking on the light, Vallery turned to the Commander.

‘Cue for moralizing on the glories of war,' he murmured quietly. ‘
Dulce et decorum
, and the proud privilege of being the sons of Nelson and Drake. It's not twenty-four hours since Ralston watched his father die . . . And now this boy. Perhaps—'

‘I'll take care of things,' Turner nodded. He hadn't yet forgiven himself for what he had said and done to Ralston last night, in spite of Ralston's quick friendliness, the ready acceptance of his apologies. ‘I'll keep him busy out of the way till we open up the cabinet . . . Sit down, sir. Have a swig of this.' He smiled faintly. ‘Friend Williams having betrayed my guilty secret . . . Hallo! Company.'

The light clicked off and a burly figure bulked momentarily against the grey oblong of the doorway. The door shut, and Brooks stood blinking in the sudden light, red of face and gasping for breath. He eyes focused on the bottle in Turner's hand.

‘Ha!' he said at length. ‘Having a bottle party, are we? All contributions gratefully received, I have no doubt.' He opened his case on a convenient table, was rummaging inside when someone rapped sharply on the door.

‘Come in,' Vallery called.

A signalman entered, handed a note to Vallery. ‘From London, sir. Chief says there may be some reply.'

‘Thank you. I'll phone down.'

The door opened and closed again. Vallery looked up at an empty-handed Turner.

‘Thanks for removing the guilty evidence so quickly,' he smiled. Then he shook his head. ‘My eyes—they don't seem so good. Perhaps you would read the signal, Commander?'

‘And perhaps
you
would like some decent medicine,' Brooks boomed, ‘instead of that filthy muck of Turner's.' He fished in his bag, produced a bottle of amber liquid. ‘With all the resources of modern medicine—well, practically all, anyway—at my disposal, I can find nothing to equal this.'

‘Have you told Nicholls?' Vallery was stretched out on the settee now, eyes closed, the shadow of a smile on his bloodless lips.

‘Well, no,' Brooks confessed. ‘But plenty of time. Have some?'

‘Thanks. Let's have the good news, Turner.'

‘Good news!' The sudden deadly quiet of the Commanderr's voice fell chilly over the waiting men. ‘No, sir, it's not good news.

‘“Rear-Admiral Vallery, Commanding 14 ACS, FR77.”' The voice was drained of all tone and expression. ‘“
Tirpitz
, escorting cruisers, destroyers, reported moving out Alta Fjord sunset. Intense activity Alta Fjord airfield. Fear sortie under air cover. All measures avoid useless sacrifice Merchant, Naval ships. DNO, London.”' With deliberate care Turner folded the paper, laid it on the table. ‘Isn't that just wonderful,' he murmured. ‘Whatever next?'

Vallery was sitting bolt upright on the settee, blind to the blood trickling down crookedly from one corner of his mouth. His face was calm, unworried.

‘I think I'll have that glass, now, Brooks, if you don't mind,' he said quietly. The
Tirpitz
. The
Tirpitz
. He shook his head tiredly, like a man in a dream. The
Tirpitz
—the name that no man mentioned without a far-off echo of awe and fear, the name that had completely dominated North Atlantic naval strategy during the past two years. Moving out at last, an armoured Colossus, sister-ship to that other Titan that had destroyed the
Hood
with one single, savage blow—the
Hood
, the darling of the Royal Navy, the most powerful ship in the world—or so men had thought. What chance had
their
tiny cockleshell cruiser . . . Again he shook his head, angrily this time, forced himself to think of the present.

‘Well, gentlemen, I suppose time bringeth all things—even the
Tirpitz
. It had to come some day. Just our ill luck—the bait was too close, too tempting.'

‘My young colleague is going to be just delighted,' Brooks said grimly. ‘A
real
battleship at long, long last.'

‘Sunset,' Turner mused. ‘Sunset. My God!' he said sharply, ‘even allowing for negotiating the fjord they'll be on us in four hours on this course!'

‘Exactly,' Vallery nodded. ‘And it's no good running north. They'd overtake us before we're within a hundred miles of them.'

‘Them? Our big boys up north?' Turner scoffed. ‘I hate to sound like a gramophone record, but you'll recall my earlier statement about them—too—late as usual!' He paused, swore again. ‘I hope that old bastard Starr's satisfied at last!' he finished bitterly.

‘Why all the gloom?' Vallery looked up quizzically, went on softly. ‘We can still be back, safe and sound in Scapa in forty-eight hours. “Avoid useless sacrifice Merchant, Naval ships,” he said. The
Ulysses
is probably the fastest ship in the world today. It's simple, gentlemen.'

‘No, no!' Brooks moaned. ‘Too much of an anti-climax. I couldn't stand it!'

‘Do another PQ17?'
¹
Turner smiled, but the smile never touched his eyes. ‘The RoyalNavy could never stand it: Captain—Rear-Admiral Vallery would never permit it; and speaking for myself and, I'm fairly certain, this bunch of cut-throat mutineers of ours— well, I don't think we'd ever sleep so sound o' nights again.'

‘Gad!' Brooks murmured. ‘That man's a poet!'

‘You're right, Turner.' Vallery drained his glass, lay back exhausted. ‘We don't seem to have much option . . . What if we receive orders for a—ah—high-speed withdrawal?'

‘You can't read,' Turner said bluntly. ‘Remember, you just said your eyes are going back on you.'

‘“Souls that have toiled and wrought and fought with me,”' Vallery quoted softly. ‘Thank you, gentlemen. You make things very easy for me.' He propped himself on an elbow, his mind made up. He smiled at Turner, and his face was almost boyish again.

‘Inform all merchant ships, all escorts. Tell them to break north.'

Turner stared at him.

‘North? Did you say “north”? But the Admiralty—'

‘North, I said,' Vallery repeated quietly. ‘The Admiralty can do what they like about it. We've played along long enough. We've sprung the trap. What more can they want? This way there's a chance—an almost hopeless chance, perhaps, but a fighting chance. To go east is suicide.' He smiled again, almost dreamily. ‘The end is not all-important,' he said softly. ‘I don't think I'll have to answer for this. Not now—not ever.'

Turner grinned at him, his face lit up. ‘North, you said.'

‘Inform C-in-C,' Vallery went on. ‘Ask Pilot for an interception course. Tell the convoy we'll tag along behind, give 'em as much cover as we can, as long as we can . . . As long as we can. Let us not delude ourselves. 1,000 to 1 at the outside . . . Nothing else we can do, Commander?'