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Radhanath Chatterjee, the captain of Indian military nuclear-powered submarine INS Arighat, was standing in the control post. There were many officers around him, all were watching on screens. All electronic devices worked good. They have already known about magnetic problems on the surface. Fortunately, the body of water consumed the dangerous radiation.
- It seems that the magnetic storm is over. - The commander reported to the captain. He checked readings from a buoy-probe, the third one, who managed not to break on the surface. – Now we can surface to pick up the signals from… any signals.
Radhanath wrinkled. There were no signals from their base. No any commands. It seemed that they had too much problems right now. But what his crew should do? Their previous patrol orders were quite stupid, like some kind of training forever, and now they had the real emergency situation, but there were no commands at all. Should they just continue patrolling?
He said:
- We are going up.
So they lifted INS Arighat up. The perfect mass killing machine. With no orders.
- This shit should come from above, you know. – The commander said.
- Do you mean space?
- All satellites are gone. The planes all over the Earth should be fallen. But we survived, we’re all right, sir. It definitely hit them not from underground. It’s not a wind or a rocket.
- We should somehow to connect with the staff.
- Cap, the satellites are gone. How can we…
- I hope the ionosphere is not gone, my boy. It should reflect our signals. Someone must catch it.
- Do you mean… Are we going to send transmissions not on a secure channel?
- It doesn’t look like a war, son. It is a cataclysm. I hope so.
- Why are you so sure?
- Because if I’m wrong, we have already lost this war. We can’t fight with such a powerful enemy.
They caught emergency signals from different sources. The largest amount of data were sent by Indian Airlines with all coordinates of missed planes. There were too many dots even in the Indian Ocean, not talking about the whole world.
- No tasks from base, sir.
Radhanath scratched his chin, thinking.
- Should we return to patrolling? – The officers asked their captain.
- Are you blind, soldier? We got our orders. Can you see it? These dots on the screen. The nearest one is a small scientific plane, not in priority, we miss it. The second one – is a big one – hundreds of passengers. We should go there. Go ahead, full power, I want to see everyone running and working!
The INS Arighat arrived to the place of airplane crash in a few hours. There were nobody alive, only some rubbish and big fuel spill on the surface.
All team was on the hull of the submarine ready to save people with air boats and pumps.
They kept silence, they took off their hats.
- No time for this. – The captain was angry. – We are going to the other dots.
- Sir, we’ve gotten the order from base! The Admiral of the Fleet commands all planes and vessels, all ships and submarines to return to the shore.
- To return… for what?! – The captain yelled. – For what – answer me – for what! Their asses will feel themselves more in safe, right? This is not gonna happen. We have more priorities. Go ahead to another plane. Somebody can wait our help.
- This is an African plane from Indonesia.
- So what?
- Less chances for Indians aboard.
- So what?!
- Nothing, sir.
The officer closed his mouth, but the commander started to talk.
- Our country can be in need too. The army is deprived of electricity.
- They still have guns and sabers.
- Our borders are not so safe, as in Australia or America, sir! We have such neighbors like Pakistan, Jammu, Kashmir, Afghanistan…
- Nice maritime countries, boy! What can we do with’ em?
- We have not broken electric devices, a radio station, many different…
- Enough.
- We can bring the working nuclear reactor to the shore! Our country definitely needs it right now!
- Look on the screen, officer. People are dying in the middle of the sea. Their problems are much bigger, than our land rats have. Poor guys don’t know how to make a breakfast without lights, huh?
Later, when Radhanath Chatterjee stepped aside, his officers talked with each other:
- He is out of his mind. We’ll be judged like traitors because of doing nothing with him…
- He is trying to clear his karma.
- No way. He is a Rakshasa again, like in that stories from his past. He like to disobey orders.
The INS Arighat went to the other place of airplane destruction. There were no radiosignals or survivors too. The crew was very upset, looking on shatters of the plane.
- We are going to another one. To the East.
- Pretoria - Emirate of Dubai. Many Americans, many rich people, some scientists. – One of the officers read the info.
There was only one survivor.
He was standing on the improvised raft. He was handcuffed to a half of a human body, with a broken arm, all over in blood. With his healthy hand and some stick from the shatters of the plane his was fighting against the sharks. There was too much blood around him on the surface of water.
He looked so happy, when the Indian army came close on their huge terrific machine.
- I don’t know… I should… or I shouldn’t recommend you my travel agency! It worth it!
Later, when he was carried on board, he said to Radhanath Chatterjee:
- My name is Harry Jones. I’m from the US. I’m a specialist of logistics, by the way. I know how it looks, but I’m not a criminal, you can check it. It is a long story how I got in this situation.
- Tell it. – The captain said. - We have a couple of hours to reach the other plane.
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