Stealth Journeys with the Steam Mapper

Chapter 1: A Sea Change (Recollections of Past Week)

The research vessel was limping towards Australia after a close call with an adversary no one saw coming.   Hurricanes and typhoons have forecasts and tsunamis have warnings but living beings can be impossible to predict and even harder to imagine.

The ship should arrive to port late today.  The research vessel had its best submersible hoisted up on deck and secured tightly.   Not losing it in battle was a great relief.   It was the single-most expensive apparatus aboard the R/V that was itself the most valuable research vessel scientists could board.   Only the world's oil companies had more money invested in equipment for oil field exploration.

Stef grinned at the sign posted above the hatch of the submersible and recalled the first time it was spotted and puzzled out: PB4UGO.   Today was the first day in a week that Stef could find anything to grin about.

Even a week after the deadly fight, Stef was wondering how an innocent oceanographer could be caught up in all that had transpired while participating in a peaceful study of hydrothermal vents.   Stef was taking a break from an extended spell of journal writing.    A lot had happened since the last entry in the previous journal, which then had fallen into the hands  of another scientist.

Stef's growing collection of journals would now have one volume that would describe a voyage like none other.    Already, communications with friends and family left many questions unanswered.   "More time is needed to sort it out", thought the youngest member of a family tree loaded with adventurers with tales of their own, some with harrowing tales.   Fighting a deadly foe to save an innocent life was nothing imagined for the adventure of a lifetime.    Stef still felt shaky when reliving the encounter.   Still had nightmares.   Still feared that another encounter could happen at any minute.   It was now in the realm of a very real possibility.   Every minute of solitude on the top deck felt risky and yet, also exhilarating.   Stef had discovered inner strength.

The United States Government had confiscated everyone's electronic devices just as soon as they boarded the rescued vessel.  Contacting friends and family was something Stef intended to do just as soon as they disembarked.   The authorities assured everyone that their next of kin had already been contacted to inform them that the survivors were all safe.

But the exciting stories of the past weeks had not been shared and the thrill of telling one's parents that you were being hailed as a hero had to wait.

Stef had awakened with a start nearly a week ago, having overslept for the first time in memory. The eerie quiet and unsettling dream-state had been confusing about what could be remembered as true regarding a ferocious battle following days of uneasiness.   MYKA had confirmed that much of what Stef's subconscious remembered was in fact true or based in truth. Stef really wanted to believe that MYKA was telling it straight and not up to some new kind of deception, taking advantage of all of the confusion of late.   Stef needed to hear that this friend would confirm it.

It was a relief to know that their survival and aftermath did really happen as recalled in the sequence of events.   Stef, known to the rest of the crew as StLF, was not going crazy.   The story in the journal might seem crazy, but unlike Ned Land's stories written after being aboard the Nautilus, StLF had photos and videos on a smart phone as proof, and plenty of eyewitnesses.    At the time, one could only hope that the phone, and the lap top, would be returned without any deletions.    The hand-written journals had been overlooked.