Read Online The Dragon in the Sea by Frank Herbert - Free Book Online

“Too much of it.”
    Sparrow took the length of tubing, snapped on the light. It was turned so that its beam flashed full into Ramsey’s eyes, blinding him momentarily. When Ramsey’s vision returned, Sparrow had the tube pushed into the tunnel. Garcia was bent over the portable receiver beside the door, staring into the screen.
    Ramsey tuned one of his own circuits to the portable unit, gasped as Garcia barked, “Skipper! Look at this!”
    The screen showed part of the downward curve of the tunnel floor. Just within view were the soles of a man’s shoes and part of his legs. The picture stopped just below the knees.

    Bonnett looked at Ramsey, who caught a glimpse of staring eyes under the shaggy brows. Sweat glistened on the first officer’s forehead. “You getting this on your screen?” he asked.
    Ramsey nodded. Because of the angle of view, the men below him had a foreshortened, gnome-like appearance. A trick of acoustics brought their voices to Ramsey with a faint ringing quality. He felt like a man observing a marionette show.
    Bonnett turned back to examine the fixed meter above the door. “Radiation’s up slightly,” he said.
    â€œNothing the filters can’t take care of,” said Garcia.
    Sparrow was bending over to maneuver the TV eye and light farther into the tunnel. Garcia moved the portable receiver back where Bonnett could see it.
    â€œAnything?” asked Sparrow.
    â€œMore leg,” said Bonnett.
    Ramsey became conscious of a low murmuring, realized that Garcia was whispering: “Holy Mary, Mother of God …” The engineering officer’s hands were tolling the Rosary under his shirt.
    Sparrow gave the tubing a gentle twist.
    â€œKnife!” blurted Bonnett.
    Ramsey saw it on his panel. The hilt of a knife projected from the chest of the man in the tunnel.
    â€œGet a record camera on this,” ordered Sparrow.
    â€œI have it up here,” called Ramsey. He pulled the camera from its rack beside the control board, hung it over the receiver screen.
    Sparrow pushed the tubing farther into the tunnel until the scanner picked up the man’s face. “Anybody recognize him?”

    â€œI think I’ve seen him,” said Garcia. “That’s a rating uniform. Looks like atomic tech insignia.” He shook his head. “But he’s not one of the Techs I let aboard for the final embarkation check.”
    Sparrow turned, looked up at Ramsey. “How about you, Ramsey?”
    â€œHe’s a special Security officer attached to Admiral Belland’s office,” said Ramsey. “His name’s Foss or Foster. Something like that.”
    â€œHow do you know?” asked Bonnett.
    Ramsey suddenly realized he had committed a tactical error. “When I was with the gulf patrol,” he said. “This bird was our Security liaison.”
    The lie came easily. He remembered the last time he had seen the man: Belland’s outer officer, Teacher Reed performing the introductions.
    â€œDo you know what he was doing here?” asked Sparrow.
    Ramsey shook his head. “I can guess. He was probably making a special check when somebody caught him.”
    â€œCaught him at what?” asked Garcia.
    With an abrupt intake of breath, Ramsey recalled that Garcia was the suspected sleeper.
    â€œIt was probably the other way around,” said Bonnett. “This Security officer caught somebody doing something and—”
    â€œDoing what?” barked Sparrow. He turned to a locker to the left of the tunnel. “Joe, help me into an ABG suit.” He opened the locker, pulled out a suit.
    Garcia moved to help him.
    Presently, Sparrow’s voice came to them over the suit communicator: “Les, get a contamination bag and a lead
box for this man’s effects. Leave it at the hatch here. Joe, get into another suit to help me when I bring him out. Ramsey, monitor me and get a still record of