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The captain looked about forty He had a square, rather Scandinavian face with a black crew-cut just going gray He had shrewd, hu behind a neatly stackeda pipe There was an enal pad on which he had just been writing He got up and shook hands, waved them to two chairs in front of his desk, and said to the officer of the watch, "Coffee, please, Stanton And have this sent, would you?'' He tore the top sheet off the signal pad and handed it across "Most Ientlemen Welcome aboard Commander Bond, it's a pleasure to have a member of the Royal Navy visit the ship Ever been in subs before?''
"I have,'' said Bond, "but only as a supercargo I was in Intelligence---RNVR Special Branch Strictly a chocolate sailor'' The captain laughed "That's good! And you, Mr Leiter?'' "No, Captain But I used to have one of my own You operated it with a sort of rubber bulb and tube Trouble was they'd never let h depth of water in the bath to see what she could really do''
"Sounds rather like the Navy Department They'll never let me try this ship full out Except once on trials Every ti, the needle co so-and-so has painted on the dial Well gentlemen''---the captain looked at Leiter---"what's the score? Haven't had such a flood of Top Secret Most I you, the last one was from the Chief of the Navy, Personal Said I was to consider myself under your orders, or, on your death or incapacity, under Commander Bond's, until Ad So what? What's cooking? All I know is that all signals have been prefixed Operation Thunderball What is this operation?''
Bond had greatly taken to Coeneral---the old Navy phrase came back to hiood-humored face as Leiter told his story down to the departure of Largo's aiven to Doround to Leiter's voice there was a enerator overlaid by the , "I love coffee, I love tea'' Occasionally the PA syste with operational double-talk---"Roberts to Chief of the Boat''---"Chief Engineer wants Oppenshaw''--- "Team Blue to Cole of a pumplike apparatus that sounded punctually every twoinside the simple brain of a robot that worked by hydraulics and electrical is from its human masters
After ten minutes, Coan filling it absent-mindedly He said, "Well, that's one hell of a story'' He snals from the Navy Depart like this would happen one of these days Hell! I have to carry these missiles around, and I'm in command of a nuclear ship But that doesn't mean that I'm not terrified by the whole business Got a wife and two children, and that doesn't help either These atoerous Why, any one of these little sandy cays around here could hold the whole of the United States to ransom---just with one of my missiles trained on Miae thirty-eight, s---enough to daland However''---he put his hands down on the desk in front of hiot just one s as the world So what are we to do? As I see it, the idea of you gentle back anyup the boot the bo with the probability that he has, this girl will give us the tip-off Then we close in and arrest his ship or blow it out of the water Right? But supposing he hasn't got the boet the tip-off, what do we do then?''
Bond said quietly, "We follow him, sit close on his tail, until the time limit, that's about twenty-four hours fro one hell of a legal stink When the tiovernments and they can decide what to do with the Disco and the sunken plane and all the rest By that time, some little man in a speedboat we've never heard of may have left one of the boone up in the air Or theresomewhere else in the world There's been plenty of tiet them thousands of miles from here Well, that'll be too bad and we'll have muffed it But at thisato coun on hi the detective can do but follow the un out of his pocket and points it Then, and only then, the detective can shoot the man or arrest him'' Bond turned to Leiter "Isn't that about it, Felix?''
"That's how it figures And Captain, Coo's our et in no ti One gets you a hundred he'll be placing that boot By the way, Captain, have you got steam up, or whatever the atom boys call it?''
"I have, and we can be under way in just about five minutes'' The captain shook his head "But there's one bit of bad news for you, gentle to keep track of the Disco ''
"How's that? You've got the speed, haven't you?'' Leiter caught hily at the captain, and hastily brought it down again to his lap
The captain sood race on a straight course, but you gentleational hazards in this part of the ocean'' He pointed at the British Admiralty chart on the wall "Take a look at that Ever seen a chart with so ures on it? Looks like a spilled ants' nest Those are soundings, gentlemen, and I can tell you that unless the Disco sticks to one of the deep-water channels---Tongue of the Ocean, Northwest Providence Channel, or the Northeast--- we've had it, as Commander Bond would say All the rest of that area''---he waved a hand---"may look the same blue color on a map, but after your trip in that Grumman Goose you know darned well it isn't the same blue color Darned near the whole of that area is banks and shoal with only around three to ten fatho for a nice cosy job ashore, I'd take the ship along surfaced in ten fathoator and seal off the echo-sounder fro spell of ten fathoot to remember that's an old chart, dates back to the days of sail, and these banks have been shifting for more than fifty years since it was drawn up Then there's the tides that set directly onto and off the banks, and the coral niggerheads that won't show up on the echo-sounder until you hear the echo of the up the hull or the screw'' The captain turned back to his desk "No, gentlemen This Italian vessel was darned well chosen With that hydrofoil device of hers, she probably doesn't draw more than a fathoot a chance And that's flat'' The captain looked from one to another of them "Want me to call up the Navy Departhter bo job?''
The two hts They'll have the hell of a job picking her up at night What do you say, Felix? Maybe we'd better call them out even if it's only to keep some sort of a watch off the A, we'll take the Northwest Channel---if the Disco sails, that is---and bank on the Bahaet No 1''