A Fictional Series by J Quisumbing
Chapter 6
When the guests had all disembarked, Jona had called in all senior officers for a security meeting. They met at the bridge ready room at eleven hundred hours. Jona felt that since the bridge deck was already restricted to the officers and bridge crew, it seemed logical especially if he was worried about planted bugs.
“The chief engineer’s final report was that the O ring was also tampered with,” reported Robby. “We have also assigned guards on all three engine rooms and at both tow line hitches.”
“Can the guards themselves be truly trusted?” asked Mae who was really angry when she realized the danger to her kids.
“They’re all clear. They were all vetted by Jer, I mean Maj. Roque,” said Jona. “He felt a squad of retired Philippine Marines would be really be needed against like… sea pirates or something. I’m so glad he talked me into it.”
One of the supervisors asked, “So, what is the plan? None of us have the experience to conduct a proper investigation.”
“Originally, I finished talking to a friend of mine in D.C.,” said the admiral. “Since, we will be joined by a crew of U.S. Naval Personnel a week from now. I requested that NCIS, that is Naval Criminal Investigation Service, assign an ‘agent at float’ to be stationed here. It’ll be a load off my mind to know that the United States investment is being taken cared of.” He leered a little like the Thresher Cat at Jona.
“So, we radioed Maj. Roque that after he drops off our guests at the Manila airport, he is to fly directly to Subic Bay to pick up a NCIS agent from the USS Nimitz. The agent would have already be given his or her assignment to us. We’ll meet the agent by tomorrow.”
Tony Hallbright was just finishing his email when his tablet started to beep. He clicked on the quaint bell icon which was jiggling. It was a calender notification that he was to report to Mae Quimby’s lab at 4pm. By his watch, he had about half an hour to report. He looked out his window to see how far he had to run. Dr. Quimby’s lab was along the starboard inner ring just across from the residential island. He could run along the pathway that goes from this structure to where her lab is. Then he looked at the water and decided to get there another way. His thinking was that since he was a marine biologist, he might as well get the lay of the land. Besides there were some toys that he brought along that he had been dying to try.
Ten minutes later, he had donned a short wet suit was at the small boat launch which was the closest thing to a beach around here. A filipino crewman helped carry a couple of equipment cases down from his quarters. When Hallbright opened them, the crewman whistled with wonder. Inside one case was a pair of mini propulsion fans. He quickly pulled them out and strapped one on his left calve, then the other to his right calve. He checked the battery power and was satisfied that it was fully charged. In the next case was something a little more makeshift.
The crewman was quite curious as Hallbright strapped this gadget on his left upper arm. It was two small aluminum cylinders with long airtubes protruding from them into the mouthpiece of a snorkel.
“Sir Tony… ano yan… I mean, what that?”
Hallbright smiled, “Ah, this is my own innovation. This helps me breath underwater.”
“How… it works, sir?”
He reached up to a handle that connects the top of both cylinders. He pulls it back and then pumped it 4 times.
“I pump this everytime I surface. When I go under, this gadget gives me 6 more minutes. This is, of course, for shallow diving only.”
“Sir Tony… engines on… current strong… be careful…”
Hallbright gave him the thumbs up as he pulled down his mask and placed the snorkle mouthpiece in his mouth.
To be continued…
Note from the author:
Oceanus Adventure is a fun effort on my part to enter the wonderful world of creative writing. It’s a story of a group of people who launched themselves into the Pacific Ocean on an artificial island to solve the Great Pacific garbage patch. My hopes is that this will end up into a TV series.
Comments and idea suggestions will be most welcomed. I hope you enjoy.
Johann Quisumbing 
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