Read Online Katya's World by Jonathan L. Howard - Free Book Online Page A

rich in metallic salts including some of rare elements. Simply put, the Soup was worth a fortune to whoever worked out a way of extracting it. Many rich men had tried and left poorer. Many poor men had tried and their bodies had not been recovered. The sheer density of the Soup was one of the things that made it so difficult to manipulate and the depth at which it existed made for a very dangerous working environment. Even a vessel capable of diving to great depths like the Novgorod could not hope to enter the Soup and survive. Every litre of Soup weighed – depending where in the world it had been gathered – as much as tw enty kilograms, twenty times denser than water. Diving five metres into the Soup was like diving a hundred metres of water. The few boats that could dive that deep were already past their test depth i f they reached the surface of the Soup. A few metres down would send the pressure rocketing past the crush depth equivalent and the submarine would be crumpled like a paper boat in a giant’s hand.
    Unless they abandoned ship immediately, they would soon be too deep for LoxPaks to save them. Then they would have no choice but to ride the stricken vessel down into the Soup, where they would be crushed in a moment.
    Kane coughed. “ If anybody’s got any bright ideas, now would be a good moment to share them. ”
    Katya had an idea, but it was so stupid, she debated sharing it for a moment.
    “ Blow tanks! ” ordered Zagadko.
    The hull thrummed as water was driven out of the ballast tanks. “ That’s helping, sir, ” reported the steerswoman “ We’re still sinking but nowhere near as fast. The nose is heavy but we can pull it up a little on the hydroplanes. ”
    “ Not enough, ” murmured the captain, watching the depth gauge. “ Navigator! ” Katya looked up, but he was talking to his own navigator. Of course, thought Katya, don’t be stupid. “ Can we make Lemuria? ”
    The navigator stabbed at some controls – Katya was once again impressed by how much better the Novgorod ’s technology was than anything she was familiar with. On the main screen, a map of the area appeared with the stricken sub in the middle. “ At our current rate of descent, we will make it, ” a red circle appeared on the map, “ this far. ” The red circle was nowhere near large enough to encompass Lemuria Station.
    The captain stepped up closer to the display. “ All right, so we can’t hope to reach Lemuria. Anything else in the area? Research bases or mining encampments? Anything? ”
    The navigator checked his files and shook his head. Captain Zagadko swore under his breath.
    So, that was that. They were all going to die and, it struck Katya, that even if she did make a complete idiot of herself, there would be no witnesses soon enough.
    “ Captain? Does the Novgorod carry any ship’s vessels? ”
    “ A couple of EVA pods and that’s about it. I’m afraid we don’t have enough to evacuate the whole crew. ”
    Great, thought Katya, now he thinks I’m a coward and just want to grab a pod. “ I was thinking of reconnaissance vehicles. Flying reconnaissance vehicles. ”
    The captain was confused now. “ Two CG craft, but we have to be surfaced to launch them. I don’t… ” His eyes lit up. “ Great gods! Yes, I do! Tokarov! ”
    Lieutenant Tokarov had already seen what Katya was getting at. “ On my way, captain! ”
    As he left the bridge at a dogtrot, Zagadko said to Katya, “ Go with him, please, Ms Kuriakov a . Take a flyer each. ” Katya didn’t need a second bidding.
     
    She caught up with Tokarov raiding a storeroom. “ Here, ” he said, tossing her a spool of metal tape. “ You’ll need a crimping gun too. Ever used this stuff before? ” She shook her head. “ It’s very easy. The trick is to keep the stuff taut. Loaded up? Let’s go! ”
     
    He led the way through bulkhead door after bulkhead door until they found themselves in the section directly behind the salvage maw.