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“Never seen a ship holed like that,” the captain said

The ship began to drift out of view

“Ga her white face

She stood up “Someone else take over, please”

As one of the other techs took her seat, she stepped through the crowd and made her way to the aft deck She pushed the hatch open and welcomed the icy chill of the outside air

A deep breath helped ease the feeling that had coaze fell upon a tarp lashed to the deck, the unco returned Under the tarp were three bodies they’d found and pulled from the sea Crewmen fro rescue They now lay in bags on the deck The ship had no cold storage, but the freezing air of the Antarctic waters was the next-best thing

She turned away as Paul came out behind her

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’ation That’s one of our ships down there These people are our friends”

“And we need to knohy it went down,” Paul reminded her “We need to see if there are explosive burns or melted plates We need to know if they were buckled from a mine or a torpedo or a missile impact, or if the plates were bent outward froe came from the outside, then we can rule out Ms Anderson’s sensor device and activate our own”

“I know all that,” she said

“But?”

She sighed “What if we find Kurt or Joe in there? What if we put the ROV inside the hull and come face-to-face with one of them? Every time we plucked someone out of the sea, I was afraid it would be someone we knew”

Paul took her hand “I understand,” he said “I’ll have one of the other techs guide the ROV”

She kneas going to say that She didn’t want that result She just needed a moment “Do you suppose there’s any chance they’re alive?”