Through Glass Darkly Episode 1 (7 page)

Jenkins nodded his approval, but then asked. ‘What will you do if we can make it to the Park?’

‘We have take things one step at a time for the moment,’ replied the Captain earnestly. ‘With most of the engines damaged, limited control over our altitude and a lot of the steering unresponsive, this could be a very short flight. But I promise you, if we can get to an open space I’ll do everything within my power to make this craft safe.’

With that the Captain took the helm himself, and after asking Fraser and the doctor to go and identify what if any remaining engines we had left, he turned to me and Jenkins for help with some of the other important controls and instrumentation that would be required if we were going to try and fly the crippled ship.

Even as we started to hear back from the doctor and Fraser about the few remaining engines that seemed to still be intact, I was aware that the ship had started to drift sideways toward one of the tall apartment blocks that stood to our starboard. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if we struck such a structure with the colossal weight and bulk of the Goose traveling at even just walking pace, but the damage would be enormous at the very least

We were around four hundred feet up above the streets, but still well below many of the rooftops. If only so much of the ship hadn’t been damaged we could’ve just increased our buoyancy and soared over the city with ease, but instead we were going to try and weave our way along the comparatively narrow 7
th
Avenue.

Jenkins had just finished informing the authorities on the ground about what was happening when we heard the first of the engines kick back into life, closely followed a few minutes later by second and third.

We were still hoping to hear some more starting up when Fraser and then the doctor appeared back on the bridge.

‘I’m sorry Captain,’ explained Dr Zimmerman. ‘But the rest of the engines are either missing or so badly damaged that they’d be of no use even if we could get them started again.’

‘Thank you doctor, Agent Fraser,’ replied the Captain. ‘From my instrument panel it looks like you’ve managed to start one starboard lower aft side engine, one portside upper forward engine, and a smaller manoeuvring engine also on the forward upper-port side. Is that correct?’

Seeing the look of incomprehension of their faces, he patiently rephrased his question.

‘You’ve managed to start one engine at the rear of the ship on the right hand side, fairly low down on the body, as well as another two toward the front of the ship, on the left hand side and higher up, roughly over there,’ the Captain said pointing through the ceiling of the bridge.

‘Yes, yes that’s right,’ replied the doctor after thinking about it. ‘But the propeller blades on the bigger engine toward the front seem to be slightly damaged at the ends.

‘Thank you gentlemen,’ commented the Captain with no further ado. ‘Now if you could please take up positions at either side of the bridge where you can each see forwards and backwards down the sides of the ship. I’m going to need you to estimate how close to the buildings we’re coming as we progress.’

The first manoeuvre was going to be the worst. The ship, although now almost level, was still angled across 7
th
Avenue, with the stern of the ship spanning some of the lower buildings on 7
th
all the way over to the back of some of the Broadway theatres on 51
st
Street.

Unfortunately, while several of the buildings around us were low enough for the ship to move over on its Starboard or right hand side, there were a couple of hotels, offices and apartment buildings on the other side of the ship and directly in front of us on the other side of 7
th
Avenue that the Captain would have to try and find some way to avoid.

‘Mr Hall, you have the engine controls.’ the Captain began. ‘I’m going to ask you to bring engines three and fifteen gradually up to a quarter power. Leave manoeuvring engine seven to idle for the moment. On my mark though I’m then going to ask you to stop engine fifteen, put it into reverse and then bring it back up to a quarter power.

‘Do you understand these instructions, and the controls you’ll need to use to complete them?’

I confirmed I did.

I could see on the ground the Police had moved all the spectators a long way back from the ship, right the way back to the junction of 51
st
Street. I just hoped it was going to be far enough.

‘When you’re ready Mr Hall, bring the engines up to quarter power.’

As a member of the senior staff I’d had some rudimentary training to familiarise myself with the basic bridge controls and operation, but that training felt a long time ago and nowhere near sufficient as I slowly moved the throttles forward for the two main engines we had at our disposal.

‘A quarter power on both engines Captain,’ I confirmed, following the standard shipboard protocol when carrying out orders.

In contrast to the power of the twelve engines that we would normally have had operating, these two were going to take a while to get us moving. But they both came up to a quarter power without any problems.

It seemed like the entire ship started to creek and complain, but very slowly the Goose started to inch forward.

‘Very good Mr Hall, now leave those engines exactly where they are until I tell you otherwise.’

The ship continued to inch forward, very slowly picking up speed until we were moving at a slow crawl directly toward the hotel on the opposite side of the street. It was still at least sixty feet away from the leading edge of the ship, but I knew even if we cut the engines to nothing we would continue to glide forwards for many times the space we had unless the Captain did something.

‘Now Mr Hall, on my mark I’d like you stop engine fifteen, put it into reverse and gradually bring it back up to a quarter power.

‘Mark.’

I was amazed my hands weren’t shaking as I carried out his orders. Though as I gradually powered down the engine I had visions of it refusing to restart, or not having enough power in reverse because of the damaged rotor blades. But I moved it into reverse, restarted it without a problem and then started to once again apply the power. Again it seemed to respond without any issues. Though as it came back up a quarter power the groaning and creaking that came from the frame of the ship increased so much it made me wonder whether the damaged frame could take the strain we were applying.

‘One quarter reverse power on engine fifteen Captain,’ I confirmed.

Still we continued to crawl toward the hotel in front of the ship, but just as I was beginning to think the Captain had misjudged the situation, the nose of the ship started to swing almost imperceptibly to the left.

‘Dr Zimmerman, the stern of the ship should also have started to swing around slightly now. Please let me know if our tail starts to get too close to any of those buildings.’

‘Yes Captain,’ was Zimmerman’s rather wide eyed response.

‘Captain,’ Fraser interjected. ‘We’re only about twenty feet from the apartment block on this side, and closing, slowly.’

‘Thank you Mr Fraser,’ was the Captains simple response. ‘Please let me know every thirty seconds whether we’re still closing or drawing away.’

We were within fifty feet of the hotel in front of us by now and still steadily closing and sliding sideways to the left, while our tail was moving in the opposite direction.

Fraser let us know a few seconds later that we were still slowly closing with the building to our left. Followed by Zimmerman a few seconds later telling us that the tail of the ship on the other side was swinging toward a tall building on 51
st
Street, and he wasn’t sure how close it would come.

I had visions of the ship just being too big for this manoeuvre and colliding with all three buildings simultaneously, but then suddenly Fraser gave us another update.

‘I think we might be pulling away slightly,’ he commented uncertainly. ‘Yes, yes we are moving away from the building to our left.’

‘Thank you Mr Fraser, that is very good news,’ replied the Captain calmly. ‘Mr Hall, please see if you can direct our manoeuvring engine to port and standby to bring it up to full power on my command.

‘Mr Fraser, if you would please go up to the mid deck where you can see that manoeuvring engine and confirm it is pointing to our left and still idling.’

A moment later Fraser’s voice came over the ships intercom confirming that the engine was pointing in the direction that it should be and was still just ticking over.

The ship was still getting closer to the hotel in front of us, so much so that I could no longer tell how far away we were from a collision, but I swear I could almost make out the contents of the rooms we were level with. We were still sliding sideways though at an increasingly quick pace, and even as I watched I could see the rate at which we were closing had stopped and we were now just moving parallel to the hotel along 7
th
Avenue.

A moment later and it was clear to everyone we were moving away from the front of the hotel and along the avenue. The tail was also clear of the tall building it had been swinging toward, and we were clear of the buildings on both sides and flying at a slow but respectable pace down 7
th
Avenue toward Central Park.

The Captain had me stop and then reverse the portside engine once more to bring both our remaining main engines back to facing forward again.

The worst was hopefully over.

CHAPTER 10 – EXPLANATIONS

It was a relatively short and straightforward journey down 7
th
Avenue to the park, once we got straightened out. The Captain even gave his double, the doctor and the FBI agents the opportunity to relieve him at the helm while he rested back in the command chair, which I think they each enjoyed far more than they might have admitted.

The ship had been quiet for a while now, with no further unexpected surges from the reactors, but despite still being quite tired, I could tell the Captain hadn’t forgotten about it.

As we approached the Park, passing almost over the top of the glass topped Pensylvania Station and the Carnegie Hall. The Captain asked Agent Jenkins if the authorities on the ground had any further instructions about where they would like him to try and moor the ship.

It was clear a lot of work had been taking place on the ground since we’d notified them of the problems with the ship, and they had already arranged for fire crews and city engineers to start making preparations around the Lake area of the park. We were instructed in no uncertain terms over the radio to bring the ship to a stop almost directly over the lake near to the Vaux boathouse.

Mooring points would be constructed to hold the ship in place, if we could get it there.

With no more malfunctions with the reactors, it was just a matter of a few minutes work to fly over the park and then bring the ship down above the lake, alongside the boathouse.

The Captain positioned the ship so that the winches and cradles could still be used to transfer people to and from the Goose, just in case it should be needed. As such within a few minutes we were once more at a standstill, and watching as fire crews temporarily moored us to the mooring points that would normally be used for the small pleasure craft that plied the Central Park lake.

The next few hours were a blur of meetings and discussions as everyone tried to understand what had happened and what if anything could be done to stop it from happening again.

As a precaution the Captain decided to stay aboard the Goose for the foreseeable future, both so that he could conduct his own investigations and to make sure he was at hand in the event of any future problems.

Jenkins and several of the high ranking city officials were unhappy at the prospect of allowing him to stay aboard, but it was hard to argue with his reasoning after he’d so skilfully managed to fly the ship through the centre of the city without so much as breaking a window.

Now that the Captain was back and well enough to take command of his ship I was eager to find out what his instructions would be for me going forward, but with all the fuss over moving the ship so unexpectedly it was all but impossible to get any time with him alone in order to discuss what he’d like me to be focusing on.

Sensing my dilemma he eventually addressed me in front of the group of officials we were meeting with.

‘Mr Hall,’ he began. ‘As there are only the two of us from the ship currently in any condition to assist the officials of this city in dealing with the problems we have inadvertently caused them, would you please do all you can to assist in tracking down this creature from the Expanse that appears to be at large in the city, and then perhaps you could appraise me of any progress later on this evening?’

Indicating my agreement, I took my leave from the meeting and disembarked from the ship.

Once I reached the ground it was clear the entourage that surrounded the other Hughes had also been busy while we’d been taking our unexpected flight, and I caught up with Hughes and one of his senior aviation engineers, where they stood on the lakeside discussing the repair of the ship.

The contrast between Hughes’ way of doing things and that of the city officials couldn’t be greater. Apparently without any form of debate or hesitation Hughes had decided that repairs must commence, so he’d simply instructed his team to make all arrangements and then get on with it.

The eccentric billionaire didn’t seem concerned about getting permission from anyone, he just instructed his engineer, a Mr Bradbury, to start bringing in the materials to commence the repairs, and ‘if he ran into any kind of resistance or red tape to notify him personally’. I don’t think he’d even explained what he had planned to the Captain, he just trusted Mr Bradbury to take care of ‘all the details’ himself.

Before Mr Bradbury had a chance to get on with his epic task Hughes asked him to join us in inspecting the mooring cables which had snapped prior to our flight.