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The master of the Glomar Explorer looked up "Admiral Sandecker"

"How far to the site?"

Quick smiled It was only the twentieth ti Halawa Bay "Less than five hundredthe ship over the nu System"

"Which leaves us only forty minutes to deploy the reflector shield"

"Thanks to Chief Toft and his engine-room crew, othere never could have made it on schedule"

"Yes," Sandecker agreed "We owe hi"

The longone eye on the clock and the other on the red digital nu Syste the ship was over the precise site where the sound rays were calculated to converge and explode with unparalleled intensity The next project was to hold the ship in the exact spot Captain Quick focused on progra the coordinates into the automated ship's control system, which analyzed sea and weather conditions and controlled the thruster jets on the bow and stern In an incredibly short time span, the Glomar Explorer had achieved station and was able to hoverwind and current within a deviation factor of less than a meter, Several other systems, each critical to the operation, also came into play The pitch was feverish

Teaineers and technicians, electronics systems experts and scientists worked simultaneously to put the reflector shield in the precise path of the sound waves The NUMA tea on platforms far above the deck, made the final connections and attached the shield to the drop hook of the derrick

Far below, one of theup the

middle third of the ship, the 1,367 square meter Moon Pool, as it was called, filled ater as two sections of the center hull, one fore, the other aft, retracted into specially designed sleeves, The true heart of the seafloor dredging system and what had been the recovery operation of the Russian subether, where the dredging hose would be extended thousands ofthe ocean's bottom and where the vast reflector shield would be lowered into the sea

The engineering systeinally constructed to raise heavy objects frohter but more expansive objects doard Procedures were hurriedly litches were quickly overcome Every move was coordinated and performed with precision

The tension on the lowering cable was increased by the derrick operator until the reflector hung free in the air The appropriate signal by the NUMA tea that the reflector assembly was

"all coh the rectangular Moon Pool into the sea with centimeters to spare It was that close The immersion time ran tenthe dish at the precise angle and depth to ricochet the sound waves to Gladiator Island took fourteen minutes

"Six ence," Captain Quick's voice droned over the ship's loudspeakers "All ship's personnel will go to the engine-rooe compartment at the aft end of the ship and enter as you have been instructed Do this immediately I say immediately Run, do not walk"

Suddenly, everyone was dropping down ladders and scaffolding, hurrying in unison like a pack of marathon runners toward the propulsion and pump room deep in the bowels of the ship Here, twenty ship's crew the supply co material they could lay their hands on The ship's towels, blankets, bedding and e chairs and any scraps of lu, deck and bulkheads to deaden all intruding sound