The Last Airship (25 page)

By
the time his took his fifteenth breath, he discovered there was no longer
enough air for him to take another.

By
now, without any air to maintain its buoyancy, the dive bell became a dive
weight, and Sam hung onto it as it caused him to rapidly descend into the
depths of the dark chasm.

And
still, at the very bottom, Sam could only just make out a faint glow.

Sam
continued to hold his breath. His lungs felt like they were burning. Only years
of free diving, and conditioning had made him capable of holding his breath for
so long.

He
hoped that the cold water would help to reduce his metabolic requirement, but
it did nothing to alleviate the pain.

When
his mind started to swirl, he knew that his blood was reaching a lethal level
of carbon dioxide content. In his head, where he’d been listening to the quick
beating of his fatigued heart, he noticed that it was starting to slow.

A
certain sense of calm settled over him.

Next
to his frog, read the numbers: 14 minutes: 43 seconds.

He
was ready to die.

But
what about Aliana? I’m not ready to die. She’s the only thing I’ve really
wanted in a long time.

In
front of him, his hand touched against a wall of limestone.

The
glowing hole he’d been focused on in the distance had never been one giant hole
at all. Instead, it consisted of hundreds of small chinks in the wall, formed
by broken rocks.

Sam
squirmed through the first one he could find, and a moment later, his head
surfaced inside a small bubble of air.

Gasping
,
he pulled himself up and began to hyperventilate.

A
minute later, the dizziness he’d been experiencing from the concentrated CO2,
finally reduced, and he was able to start focusing on where he was and why.

Switching
on his torch for the first time since they’d discovered the Magdalena, Sam
looked around and discovered that he was in an underwater cave that was
approximately 6 feet long by 4 feet wide, and that it was almost completely
sealed by rock.

At
one end, he could see a small passageway, no more than seven inches thick,
leading to the surface. The source of the light would be of no use to him.

Sam
continued looking around the small cave.

As
far as he was concerned, the place looked more like a tomb than his salvation.

Blake
Simmonds contemplated where his loyalties rested. Such contemplation was rare
for him. Not since he was a small child had he even considered what his
priorities were. In the end, though, the answer was simple, as it always had
been and would be: Blake looks after Blake.

Looking
at the touch-screen in front of him, he selected his employer’s phone number
,
and clicked “scatter.” The “scatter” app on his satellite phone then ran
through more than a hundred proxy servers before making the final connection.

It
took a considerable amount of time, but if someone was listening, which was
often the case, it would take them more time to find out where the call
originated than they would get listening to what was being said.

He
had only spoken with the man three times since this whole thing began. The man
receiving the call, answered immediately.

“Speak.”

“I
have reason to believe that John Wolfgang is going to screw us.”

“Really?
That is unexpected.” The man sounded calm, despite what was at stake. “Why
would he do that? He knows we have Aliana, right?”

“He
might just discover that she’s already dead.” Blake didn’t hesitate before
stating the embarrassing fact.

“Ah…
shit! How could you have been so careless?”

“I
could never have predicted that John would accidentally kill her himself!”

“That
stupid prick,” the man said, chuckling. “Are you confident that Sam will reach
the Magdalena?”

“I’m
almost certain of it
,
and if Aliana is still alive, I know exactly where
she and Sam Reilly will emerge from the rabbit hole. But we’re going to have to
act quickly if we want to secure the place.”

“Send
me the coordinates and I’ll dispatch the men.”

*

Sam
couldn’t believe his shitty luck as he stared at the rocky cave above his head.
He was trapped. Despite his best efforts to swim such an inconceivable distance
while holding his breath
,
he found himself no closer to the surface than
before.

He
allowed himself another two minutes to give his body time to allow its oxygen
and CO2 levels to return to normal.

Hyperventilating
once again, Sam again dived under the dark water below and tried to find
another way out of his tomb. Despite having to hold his breath, he felt himself
naturally relaxing after again submerging himself in the icy water. He had
spent thousands of hours cave diving over the years, and it felt far from
foreign to him.

Sam
managed to explore three different tunnels.

Two
tunnels were completely submerged and one contained a small pocket of air to
support him, but neither tunnel offered a way to reach the outside surface.

At
least he had a reasonable supply of breathable air on this side of the tunnel.
If nothing else, that gave him enough air in which to exhaust the escape
potential of each tunnel.

After
four more attempts
,
Sam became concerned that the carbon dioxide levels
inside his cave were probably starting to reach dangerous levels. He needed to
find a way out and soon, if he was ever going to have a chance. If he couldn’t
make it out, Sam decided that he would rather return to the Magdalena and save
Aliana the nightmare of swimming the submerged tunnel only to discover his
corpse on the other side.

But
could I even make that swim again?

Sam
doubted it very much, regardless of his desire.

On
his sixth attempt, he decided to try something different.

Sam
knew that he needed to swim upwards in order to reach the surface of the lake,
but thus far, all he’d discovered on his previous attempts was that each tunnel
reaching upward towards the surface had ended in impenetrable rock barriers.
Water was constantly flowing into the tunnel, but the surface marks around the
perimeter of the underground lake appeared to remain relatively constant. 

This
meant that the water was obviously leaving the tunnel somewhere.

Instead
of swimming upwards, Sam descended all the way to the bottom of the tunnel –
guessing that he was at a depth of 30-40 feet. At the bottom
,
he could
feel a gentle pull towards something beneath the largest rock that formed the
barrier.

He
allowed his body to drift for twenty to thirty seconds until he could be
certain
,
and then swam underneath the rock.

The
opening was narrow, and he scraped the skin of his wide shoulders attempting to
get through.

The
hole seemed to reach even farther down, he discovered.

It
was far too narrow to permit him to turn around if it didn’t lead to the lake’s
surface, and Sam found himself struggling to quell the terror that accompanied
his fear of drowning.

For
an instant, he saw his brother’s face on the night that he died.

In
a surreal moment, he felt as though his brother was encouraging him. As though,
without words, he was telling him he was nearly there. Just keep going.  

Sam
had no idea how deep he had submerged, but even if he did have room to turn
around, he realized that he’d already passed the point of no return. By now,
even if he did have a way get back to where he’d begun, the lack of oxygen
required to make such an effort would have rendered him unconscious before he
made it.

With
his lungs burning, he was very close to accepting his fate.

Ahead
of him, he suddenly noticed a light on the rock below. It started to flicker,
as sunlight would, through the tiny ripples of the lake’s surface.

He
began to rapidly kick with his legs, and pushed himself toward it.

Then,
using his hands to reach through the opening, he pulled himself out of the hole
and looked up. Above him he could see the crystal clear waters of a lake.

His
watch indicated that he was under 30 feet of water.

Sam
comfortably exhaled during his entire rise to the surface.

When
his head finally broke free of the water, Sam took a deep breath of the most
deliciously fresh air he’d ever breathed.

Above
him, Sam heard the familiar vibrations of a helicopter coming up over the hill.

Oh
shit, not now!

He
quickly ducked back under the rocky ledge on the side of the lake. Having to
hold his breath once more, his lungs burned instantly.

The
sound of the helicopter overhead was amplified by the speed of the sound waves
in the water.

Sam
waited there for as long as he was able, until he was quite certain that the
helicopter had passed
,
and then he resurfaced.

This
time
,
he didn’t wait to see if it was safe – he’d run out of time.

He felt
dizzy and disorientated, exhibiting the first signs of cerebral hypoxia
,
and
the muscles in his arms were beginning to cramp from the cold. His arms and
legs had stopped shaking, another sure sign that his body was no longer
attempting to compensate for the cold, and was now shutting down.

Sam
knew that he had to get out of the water immediately, dry himself off and
attempt to warm his body.

In
the distance, he saw the back of a Robinson 44 helicopter as it hovered. At the
back of its tail rotor Sam noticed a small yellow scratch.

Sam
recognized that mark.

He’d
made it with the yellow dive equipment four days ago, and then it hit him.

That
must be Tom –
and he was flying away.

Sam
reached for a small piece of metal in his right zipper pocket, and used it to
reflect the rays of sunlight toward the helicopter. He flicked it multiple
times, so that the movement would cause an annoying flicker which the pilot
would hopefully notice.

There
was no immediate response, but Sam continued to try to catch the pilot’s
attention.

Then,
he watched as the helicopter turned and started to drop away over the cliff
again, and off the mountain.

He
was so close to being rescued, and now he’d lost it all.

In
the underwater lake, Aliana passed the time by taking stock of what worked,
what didn’t, and what could be repaired onboard the Magdalena. Sam had pointed
out that if they ever wanted to get her off the mountain they would have to
re-gas her.

It
would be a prolonged process, taking many months, but if the Magdalena was ever
to reach her   rightful place in a historical museum, she would have to become
lighter than air again. After that was achieved, a single helicopter would be
capable of towing her.

In
truth, Aliana realized that it was highly unlikely the Magdalena would ever
escape from her watery confines. Sam probably knew it too, but it was better to
try to keep her mind active with a purpose, rather than sitting around, waiting
for death.

Starting
with the pilot gondola, Aliana reached for the wooden steering wheel, much like
that on a yacht, and found it still turned. She was even more surprised to
discover, when she looked outside, that the huge rudder at the back of the
airship still pivoted in response.

She
could easily imagine the spectacular airship sailing through the sky.

It
stirred something in her imagination, just as Peter Pan had done when she was
just three years old, and she longed to see the old ship in the air again. But,
just as with Peter Pan, she knew that it was little more than pure fantasy that
it might someday fly again, but it made her happy.

Next,
she turned the 14 valves which controlled the air input inside the canopy. To
her surprise, they still had some air within them, but both compartments 13 and
14 leaked air out just as quickly as it entered them. She studied the diagram
of the air valves, and noted that these represented the two forward
compartments.

Aliana
wondered if these were the result of the crash, or if they were what caused the
crash. Had the Nazi’s bullets damaged the Magdalena’s bow compartments?

Next,
she flicked on the helium tank valves.

As
she expected, there was no sound of any gas moving.

She
looked through the pressure markings, and tried to calculate exactly how much
helium would be necessary to cause her to become airborne once again. She
understood that the tanks that made up part of the hold in the pilot gondola
were trivial in comparison to the amount of helium which would have been
necessary to fill up the main airship canopy.

Aliana
ran her hands along the rest of the controls inside the pilot gondola. There
weren’t many of them, and for the most part, they were merely monitoring
devices: altimeters, pressure gauges, and engine pressure readers.

The
Magdalena was a very simple machine compared to modern day standards of air
travel.

Looking
at the skeletons of the two pilots, she couldn’t help but wonder,
what went
wrong with your beautiful airship?

Before
leaving the gondola, however, she noticed a locker marked “maintenance tools.”
These airships were designed to be maintained by those onboard
,
come
what may during their travels
,
in a time long before the existence of
ground technicians and engineers, who nowadays could advise a pilot on his or
her best choice of action with a simple radio message or computer signal.

Inside
the locker, she found a number of tools, but only picked up a small metal box
which contained a number of wrenches, and screwdrivers – just in case.

She
then made her way along the airway, which linked the pilot gondola with the
luxury passenger carrier
,
and then through that compartment to the one
containing the engine. The engines were completely sealed in a protective
casing. It appeared that the engine gondola had never been submerged into the
water.

Much
more basic than modern-day engines, the Magdalena’s forward propulsion system
consisted of four Daimler-Benz 32HP diesel engines.  Unlike their modern
counterparts, these engines relied on hand power to crank. They were primitive,
but simple and reliable to operate and maintain.

I
wonder if you could be coaxed into working again.

Sam
had inspected them earlier, and had said that given enough time, he’d get them
working again. She assumed, at that time, that he’d meant to repair them in a
workshop or something similar. In reality, someone would probably just replace
all four of them with brand new replicas, if the Magdalena ever made it out of
here.

Her
mind returned to the problem at hand –
that’s if I ever make it out of here,
for that matter.

Aliana
didn’t allow herself to dwell on the thought. Instead, she decided to find the
manhole, and climb into the giant canopy. From the outside, it looked entirely
intact. But who knew what that meant in terms of the structural stability of
its aluminum. Few things are designed to survive 75 years in a cold, wet
environment.

She
climbed up the aluminum ladder, unscrewed the manhole cover, and entered the
canopy. 

As
far as she could tell, it seemed to be intact.

Exploring
the canopy took longer than the rest of the airship, but again, as far as she could
tell, the canopy, if filled with helium or another lighter-than-air gas, could,
in theory, fly again.

She
climbed back down and entered the main gondola, where the skeleton of Fritz
Ribbentrop stared back at her. Its metal suitcase still securely chained to his
wrist.

What
were you doing here Fritz? And what are we going to do with your virus?

*

Something
didn’t seem to make sense to Tom as he banked the helicopter to the right in an
attempt to get away from the strong reflection of the sun glistening off the
waters of Lake Solitude.

He
started to again descend off the mountain, but about two minutes later, he
understood what was wrong. The powerful reflection he’d been trying to avoid,
was moving in an up and downward direction!
While that might mean very
little to the casual observer, to a helicopter pilot, who had spent years
flying over oceans and lakes, he knew that the up and downward flicker of the
sun’s reflection was only normally seen in the ocean or large lakes which had
swells or ripples, whereas the waters of Lake Solitude lay perfectly still in
the morning sunlight.

It
must be a signal from Sam!

He
knew it as intrinsically as his body knew how to maneuver the complex controls
of the helicopter to return for a second fly-over. There, in front of him,
sprawled over a rocky outcrop on the edge of the lake, like a lizard absorbing
the sun’s warmth, lay Sam.

At
first glance, he looked as though he might be dead.

But,
then he saw his friend sit up, smile at him, and raise the thumb of his left hand
as if trying to hitch a ride from a passing motorist.

Tom
carefully lowered the helicopter until he stopped its descent, hovering just
above the rocky outcrop, mindful of the tall pines that lined the mountain to
the east.

To
his left, Tom watched as Sam opened the cockpit door, climbed inside and sat
next to him in the front passenger seat.

“So,
what took you so long?”

*

Tom
immediately took off as soon as the door was closed.

“Okay,
so what’s our next step?” he asked.

“Can
we get back to the Tyrol crow’s nest?”

“No,
not from what I hear. Your ‘friends’ know that you’re here, and they're pretty
pissed off about it. I’m sure they have some of their goons on hand, just
waiting for your return.”

“Okay,
in that case, let’s go to Lugano. There’s a commercial dive shop there, and
we’re going to need to get some heavy supplies to rescue Aliana.”

“Okay,
you’re the boss,” Tom replied, as he started to input the details into his
flight GPS.

Along
the way, he waited patiently for Sam to tell him everything that had happened,
including the discovery of the Magdalena, and about how Aliana was still
trapped in the cavern below. 

“We’ll
have to return with enough equipment to rescue Aliana,” Sam said, through his
chattering teeth. He looked dangerously cold. “We’re going to need to get some
dynamite too. At the moment, there’s several hundred tons of rubble blocking
our way.”

“Gotcha.”

When
Sam stopped speaking, Tom said, “There’s just one problem.”

“Oh
yeah, what’s that?”

“There’s
an army on its way to Lake Solitude.” Tom looked over at Sam’s serious face as
he continued, knowing that Sam wasn’t going to like the next part, “They’ve
discovered that it’s the final resting place of the Magdalena.”

“How
the hell did they figure that out?”

Tom
then told him about the man who had contacted him while he was in Paris, and
also how the man had told him that he was unable to stop what was now
proceeding in full motion – a race to retrieve the priceless cargo aboard the
Magdalena.

Next
to him, Sam Reilly’s face displayed his incredulity at this piece of news.

“Well,
that explains how they’ve managed to keep finding me.”

“Now
what are we going to do about it?”  Tom asked him.

“Simple,
we’ll just have to make sure that she’s no longer there by the time they arrive…”