Page 33 (1/2)

So ht

An icy chill crept up the back of Pitts neck and spread throughout his body, and he realized the batteries operating the heater in his suit were nearly drained He switched off the light for a moment The pure blackness nearly sain and quickly swept the beam around as if he expected to see a specter of the crew reaching out for hi except the dank metal walls and the worn machinery

He could have sworn he felt the grating shudder as if the engines loo up

Pitt shook his head to purge the phanto the sides of the hull, crawling between pumps and asbestos-covered pipes that led into the darkness and nowhere He fell down a ladder into six feet of greasy water

He struggled back up, out of the seee, his suit now black with oil Out of breath, he hung there aa conscious effort to relax

It was then he noticed an object diht beaallon gas can ired to a beam welded on the inner hull plates Pitt had set explosives on nized the detonator unit attached to the bottoh the grating to the deck above

Sas pouring from

his body but he was shivering froe where he found it and cliines and boilers

There were no s anywhere, no manufacturer's name, no inspector's sta it was removed Wherever there had been letters or numbers sta endless nooks and crannies around the h his gloved hand It was a srease under one of the boilers

He rubbed away the griht on the indented surface It read: PRESSURE 220 ' psi

TEMPERATURE 4500 F

HEATING SURFACE 5,017 se it

MANUFACTURED BY THE ALHAMBRA MON AND BOMER COMPANY CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA SER 38874

Pitt memorized the serial number and then made his way back to where he started He wearily sank to the deck and tried to rest while suffering from the cold

Dover returned in a little under an hour, carrying an explosive canister under one arm, as indifferently as if it were a ju fluently and often as he slipped on the oily deck, he stopped and sat down heavily next to Pitt