Aquaria - 17. Aqu Chapter 17

“For the past eight months, I have been working on a special project, which you will find out about in due course. This is a highly sensitive project, and so it is being kept under wraps for as long as possible, I have purchased an island, and work has been underway to get it back into operational mode.

It has its own aircraft runway, and several buildings, which for the past few months have been cleaned out, painted, and some fixtures added, including updating the satellite dishes for communications, and a radar system for weather and aircraft tracking, plus a water desalination plant and water storage tanks.

Your job will be to start planting tens of thousands of trees and shrubs, to increase the vegetation on the main island, and its surrounding three smaller islands, plus to start doing a long-term research study of the area.

Once you have left Hooper Bay in Alaska, you will head south west towards the west end of the Fox Islands, and 18 hours later, and no earlier, you will open this envelope.

When you do, you will know your next destination, and you will be just 6 hours from reaching the west end of the Fox Islands, where you will change course to the new location.

It must be this way to keep it as secret as possible. Good luck, and I will see you there when you arrive” my father said before standing up and leaving the room.

Both Jonah and I stared at the envelope that was left on the table, “I wish I could take a little peak inside, this waiting is going to drive me nuts” I said before standing and leaving the room also, and I went to the side window and watched as Dad left the vessel and walked along the wharf to the security gate, where a taxi was waiting for him.

“All hands prepare for departure” I heard over the vessel’s PA system, and I headed down one deck and forward to the main bridge, where Uncle Jonah and Dan were busy preparing to leave, and I stood at the back of the bridge and watched everything happening.

“Lt Commander Blackthorn, would you like to take the helm and take us out?” I heard Jonah say, and it took me a few moments for me to realise he was talking to me.

“Err… yes sir, I would be pleased to do so” I finally replied, and I took up the seat, vacated by the helmsman. “All ahead 1/3rd please Lt Commander” I heard Commander Atkins order, “Yes sir, all ahead 1/3rd” I responded, and for the next half an hour I guided the vessel out of Halifax harbour and into the North Atlantic Ocean. “Ok Lt Commander, you can pass over controls to the helmsman now” my uncle said to me smiling.

“Yes sir, and thank you for the opportunity to do that, it has been a while” I responded, “Just like riding a bike?” Dan asked, and I chuckled at this, “Well not quite sir, but it is good to keep in practice” I replied, before saluting and heading out.

With it being lunch time, I headed down to deck 6, to speak to the cadets, and as I entered one cadet called out, “Officer on deck”, and everyone stopped eating and stood up.

“Thank you, you may be seated. Good afternoon, and welcome once again to the RSV Aquaria, my name is Mr Trenton Blackthorn, I was a Lt Commander in the Navy, but I am a civilian now.

My role here as your supervisor is to organise your timetables for work and study… yes there is some study involve. Each day from Monday to Saturday is as follows, breakfast in here at 0730 hours, muster and briefing at 0800 hours, in the Science research workroom.

That is aft on deck 4, check your layout map, as it is indicated on that, and from there you will be allocated your work or lectures, three groups will be doing each, with studies, in the education centre, also located on deck four.

You will have a half hour break at 0930, before swapping over to wither lectures or work, which will finish at 1130 hours, where you have a one-hour break before lunch here at 1230 hours.

You will commence work or studies again at 1300 hours on deck 4, with a half hour break at 1430 before you change over again, starting at 1500 hours. After that you have 1 ½ hours free time before dinner at 1800 hours, and after dinner is free time, with lights out at 2100 hours.

The only change to this roster is on Wednesday, where you only have a half day, with the afternoon being free time, as is all day on Sunday’s. At your first muster tomorrow, you will be separated into 6 groups of 7 people, and this will be your permanent group placing.

We have six fields of science that we work in onboard this vessel, and each group will spend 15 days working and studying in each field of science, so by the time the three months are over, you will have a good knowledge of all six fields of science” I said to the cadets.

“Sir, may I ask a question?” one cadet asked, “Yes, go ahead young lady” I replied. “Sir will be going to any very interesting paces, and where are those places?” the cadet asked me.

“Well as you already know, we will be travelling along the top of Canada and Alaska, we will be submerged for most of the journey, but where there is no ice, we will surface, and spend a few hours doing some science research in whatever field you are assigned to.

We will be stopping at a small community called Hooper Bay, in Alaska to top up our supplies, before heading south west to the Fox Island, which is part of the line of islands from Alaska, heading towards Russia, but we will passing-by the islands, well before we reach Russian territory.

From there we will be heading due south, to an undisclosed location, that the Captain and I will be notified of, once we have cleared the Fox Islands.

That is all for now, you have the rest of the day to get settled and find your way around the vessel, just a reminder to stay within your allowed locations on decks 4 to 7 at all times, all other decks are off limits to all cadets, and remember we do have punishments for those who break the rules” I replied.

“We hear you and the captain say there is a punishment, what exactly is it?” one cadet called out, “For those of you that know the naval term, we have a brig onboard the vessel, that is all” I said and I left the room, to avoid being asked any more questions, and I headed to the Explorer restaurant on deck five for some lunch, and I was pleased to see Julia and Joshua there having some lunch.

“Hello there, how have you enjoyed your first few hours onboard a submarine?” I asked, “Hello daddy, I think it is awesome” Joshua said excited, “Not as terrifying as I thought it would be actually” Julia replied, “That is good to hear, we are not very deep, I think we are twenty metres below the surface, when I left the main bridge about half an hour ago, I was actually at the helm when we left Halifax” I said.

“What is that mean daddy?” Joshua asked, “It means that I was steering the submarine when we left the harbour” I replied smiling, “Wow, that is awesome” Joshua replied, “yes it was actually, it is the biggest ship that I have ever steered” I replied.

A steward came to the table and I placed an order for lunch, and chatted with Julia and Joshua while they ate, and they stayed while I ate my lunch, so we could talk some more.

“So, have you met all the other children that are onboard?” I asked Joshua, “Some of them, I went to school this morning, and my teacher is Mrs Baxter, she is really nice” Joshua replied, “Do you have any new friends?” Julia asked, “Yes, his name is Mitch, and her name is Amanda, they are twin brother and sister” Joshua replied, “Well that is nice to know” I responded.

“We have school again this afternoon at 1pm” Joshua said to me, “Are you looking forward to it?” I asked him, and Joshua just nodded his up and down. Fifteen minutes later we said goodbye, and Julia took Joshua back to school on deck 4.

After I had finished my lunch, I headed up to deck 4 and looked through the door window of the classroom, and watched as the teacher was giving a lesson, and Joshua seemed to be happy.

For 7 days we travelled along the arctic ocean, with some of the time under the ice. We ended up stopping 6 times during the journey, to do some science research, in different areas, and the cadets seemed to have settled in well and into a good routine, minus one small hiccup.

That being on day 4 of the journey, when a smoke sensor picked up smoke in one of the cadet rooms on deck 7, which ended up being a cadet illegally smoking onboard the vessel.

As a result, he was brought before a closed disciplinary tribunal, consisting of two regular crew, two junior officers, two elected cadets and myself as chair.

The tribunal heard that the cadet had incorrectly recorded on the application, form stating that he was a non-smoker, when he clearly is a smoker, and that he had signed the contract stating that he had read and agreed to all rules and regulations that operate within the company, while serving onboard the RSV Aquaria.

The tribunal members voted 6 to 1 that he was guilty of his wrong doings, with regards to false documentation, and illegally smoking onboard the vessel, and because it was his first offence a recommendation of a light punishment was recommended.

With that decided, it was up to the three senior tribunal members to decide the punishment, that being the two junior officers and myself, and we retired to the adjoining meeting room to discuss this.

We headed to a room, which ended up being the one of the meeting rooms on deck 2, which is right next to the aft elevators. When we returned to the tribunal room ten minutes later, there was just two security guards, the other four tribunal members and the accused in the room.

“We, the senior members of the tribunal, having received a verdict of guilty on both charges, and a recommendation of a lighter punishment, and hereby sentence you to three days in detention, for the smoking offence, for the more serious offence of falsifying your application, on arrival at the next port of call, we will terminate your cadetship, and send you back to your home country of Jamaica,” I announced.

With that completed, the tribunal members stood and left the room, while the security guards took the disgraced cadet to the elevators, and down to the detention centre. “Mr Blackthorn, where is this place of detention?” one of the cadet tribunal members asked.

“It is in a restricted part of the vessel, accessible by security and senior officers only, don’t worry he will be well looked after, now follow me” I replied, before leading the way down the passageway, through the junior officers dining room to the central elevators, and down to deck four, where I left them to find their own way around.

The Captain informed me that we would be arriving in Hooper Bay at 0700 hours the next day, so at 1800 hours, I headed down to deck 9 to have the cadet released from detention.

“I hope that you learn from this mistake, and make sure when you apply for future jobs, that you include allthe correct information, and do not put the crew in jeopardy, by smoking in a non-smoking vessel” I said to the cadet as he was released from his cell, and he pushed past me, giving me a good shove.

“So, what happens now, sir” the cadet asked me in an angry tone, as he waited to be allowed out of the detention centre itself. “I have had a request from a quorum of cadets, pleading that you be permitted to continue on as a cadet, but by your own actions with shoving me and your comment just now, I have decided to ignore their request, as your behaviour will not be tolerated here or anywhere else like this facility.

We arrive in the Alaskan port of Hooper Bay tomorrow morning, where you will be escorted off the vessel and onto the waiting aircraft, that will take you back home to Jamaica. I wish you well in your future Mr Reid, so I suggest that you spend your last 12 hours onboard having dinner, getting packed, and be ready to leave at 0730 hours tomorrow” I said, as the guard unlocked the door, and led the student to the elevator, and took him to deck 4, then forward to the central elevators, and down to deck 7.