#34: Viper- The trip up river

..............................................................................................................................................
..............

The trip upriver had been hell. The rain and the fog continued. The water continued to rise and Barges, and other vessels, had began to break free of their mooring and drift downstream. A number of times the Horatius had been hit by drifters. Luckily they had only been fiberglass sports-craft, flotsam or other debris. It hadn’t done the Horatius any significant harm. So far there had been no major damage but the risk was increasing. If they had been hit by a barge or a commercial vessel it would have been a different matter.

..................

PO’s Douglas Tick and Paul Griffin were trying to see through the dense fog. Colonel Klink had ordered them onto the deck to keep a ‘close eye out for flotsam and derelicts’. Each of them had boat hooks in hand that they’d acquired of their own initiative. The USCGC “Sentinel Class Patrol Boat, Horatius” advanced at barely steerage speed. The slow easy burble of it’s large Cat’s were barely audible. The fog soaked up sound as well as light so the two had little worry that they would be overheard by the two Vipers inside the cabin.

“Can you believe this?” Doug asked, he desperately wanted a cigarette. “We have Flir and Radar and in use and yet they send up here to “observe”.

“I’m still trying to get past their names” said Paul, he was an old Swabbie, almost due to retire.

“Klink and Shultz?” asked Doug. “What’s unusual about that?”

“Oops...look at that.” Doug said. Suddenly he bellowed loudly enough to rustle the hair on Paul’s head .

“ Attention the Helm! Hull off the Port Bow! Closing slow!” Doug had spent many years at sea. He had a powerful set of lungs. His shout was LOUD.

He and Paul stepped briskly toward the side of the boat. A capsized pleasure boat hull had suddenly appeared out of the dense fog. It was barely ten foot away and closing when they used the boat hooks to fend the lighter weight plastic hull away from the Horatius.

“Perhaps FLIR and Radar doesn’t work so well under these conditions against plastic pleasure boats.” Paul said after the floating hull had passed.

---

...inside the ship...

“cough, Cough Pardon me Colonel.” Shultz discreetly attempted to get Colonel Klink to wake up. It could be embarrassing if the Captain of the ship were to discover him asleep.

“There! Listen Sir” Shultz said.

Not at all faintly could be heard “ Attention the Helm! Hull off the Port Bow! Closing slow!”

“I see it Shultz” Klink jerked away. He almost fell out of his seat.

“I see nothing” Shultz told him. “Nothing.”

“Um” Shultz started to say.

“What IS it Shultz?” Klink asked in exasperation. “Spit it out”.

“You needn’t be so nervous sir. There are highly sailors who are doing that as well as the electronics.” Shultz said.

“Really?” Klink said “I suppose so. They’ve been doing this for some time. It’s their skin too if we sink.”

“Yeah ” Shultz said “That’s normally the way it works.”

“Well that’s an excellent idea Shultz” Klink said “I am bit fatigued. I’ll be in my bunk”.

He left.

“The USCGC “Sentinel Class Patrol Boat, Horatius” burbled downstream at about half a knot above steerage. Little did they know that they’d passed within a hundred yards of Naomi’s life pod. Naomi and Julie were very aware of that fact.

........................
The Next Episode Is
#35: Banana Slug - Hunting…
The Previous Episode was
#33: Naomi - Feeling Guilty…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
..............
Book One: SoulStone
..................................................
I'm

@everittdmickey
.
I write
SPECULATIVE FICTION
My books on Amazon.
I engage in political commentary
and
generally talk about anything that strikes my fancy
on
Steemit
and
Sola

When watching the LameStream FakeNews Media

it's hard to tell what’s true or when they are lying isn’t it? It seems that they are more interested in influencing public opinion than they are reporting the facts.
SteemPunk Snail Image from Pixabay