Chapter 7 - Goodmorning, Captain

It was midnight, and aboard the Red October, former captain Alex Pollak had gotten up to take a piss.

He was on his way back to his cabin when he heard a strange noise.

Tap, tap, tap... Tap, tap...

The captain started.

His breath was still.

Slowly, he turned.

At the far end of the hall was the escape trunk, which Alex approached curiously.

There appeared the delicate hand of a child.

As Alex's eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, the image of a girl became clearer.

She had both hands on the window and tapped with one finger.

Bubbles escaped her nose and danced through her dark brown hair before disappearing from view.

Confused and exhausted, Alex programmed for the outer hatch to close.

Hearing the door airlock shut, the girl smiled.

There was a quiet grumble and the water began to drain from the chamber.

The girl slowly descended from being suspended in the water until her feet touched the floor.

She tapped on the window again, dripping wet.

"Let me in," the voice cried softly.

Her voice was familiar, but was muffled by the glass.

"How did you get in here?" Alex called.

"I have a key!" the girl replied.

"Who are you looking for?"

"What?"

"I'm the only one here..."

The girl shook her head, deeming the statement irrelevant.

“Please, it's cold..."

Alex hesitated, but he was tired and wanted to get this over with.

He programmed for the inner hatch to open.

The girl stepped into the hall with him, little beads of water cascading down her black unitard to form shallow puddles on the ground.

"Scott's not here. Neither is Max. I'm the only..."

The girl turned, almost insulted.

"You think I'm Casey? That's just..."

There was a flurry of arms accompanied by incomprehensible mutterings.

"I shudder at the thought..."

"Then who are you?"

The girl turned away, breathing deeply.

"You don't remember me... do you?"

The girl looked pale as death, standing in a puddle of water, glaring tragically into his eyes.

“I’ve grown taller,” she shrugged, looking away.

Alex stared at her, confused.

“I want the police to be notified,” she continued

“What?”

“I’m trying to find my way home,” the girl explained.

“I’m sorry… and I miss you…”

The captain reached for something to hold on to.

“What?”

“I miss you,” the girl repeated.

“I’ll make it up to you! I swear, I’ll make it up to you… I miss you.”

The tears ran down her face.

Reaching past him, she programmed for the inner hatch to close.

"I was never here. Go back to bed."

She pushed past him, hurrying down the hall.

Now Alex was genuinely freaked out.

"Who are you?" he managed as he tried to stand.

"Ask me again, when you've come down," she called back, without stopping.

He gave her a sideways look, watching her leave.

Was he tripping?

He felt the creaking of the stairs beneath him, that rose, from the sea, to the door.

Alex turned suddenly, startled by the sound of the inner hatch airlocking shut.

When he looked back, the girl was gone.

He accepted this as a dream and went back to his cabin, not noticing the wet footprints on the ground.

Khrinan stepped into the control room, miraculously dry.

On the far wall, digital screens showed the submarine's relative position in the fleet.

The Red October was on Autopilot, being typically uninhabited.

It was programmed to never leave the fleet formation: the Nautilus, front and center; the Red October, on the left; and the Black Pearl, on the right; in a "V" shape, imitating a migrating flock of geese.

Khrinan floated across the room and set her hands on the keyboard.

She hit the space bar twice and the monitor hummed to life.

Black dots filled the box of the otherwise-blank screen as she typed in the password.

Smaller dots flashed in a circle as the password was processed.

Khrinan smiled as the control settings opened to her.

She gave the sub more speed and a slight angle, selected a destination, and programmed Autopilot to it.

Back on the main page, Khrinan changed the password.

Then, just to be safe, she paced to the wheel and ripped out the cables.

Alex had just fallen back to sleep when the panic alarm went off.

Strident honking echoed through the entire sub.

With red lights flashing in the hall, Alex raced to the control room, only to find his sub was about to crash.

He entered the password several times, only to get a red screen with the message "Password incorrect" in bold letters, read aloud to him.

Cursing, Alex hurried to the manual wheel, only to find that it did nothing to the change the direction of the sub.

Suddenly, there was a low, loud groaning sound.

Horrible scraping resonated through the water as the rouge sub bruised the nose of the Nautilus.

Inside, the Max awoke as he landed on the floor, shaken from his bed by an impossible underwater earthquake.

Panicked by the continued rumbling and the howl of metal scraping metal, he stumbled to his feet and opened the door to the hall.

The other members of the crew were already there, desperately holding the walls for support, wearing what they typically wore to sleep or whatever random articles they could throw on to keep from being in the hall naked.

“What’s going on?” V asked, yelling over the ruckus.

“We’re being hit by another submarine!” Ranon answered.

“That’s impossible! We’re the only ones out here!” the other Max protested.

Cedric smirked.

"Maybe it's NAD!"

Face pressed in a window, Max mumbled in horror and disbelief

"It's not..."

The rest of a crew ran to a window to watch.

From the control room, Alex could hear the water pouring in.

With wet ankles, he threw himself into the hall and sloshed towards the escape chute.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Khrinan looked at him sympathetically as he pounded his fists on the window.

Alex tried to program the door, but with the wrong password, it wouldn't open.

Feelin the water at his waist line, he turned back to Khrinan.

"FUCKING OPEN THIS DOOR!"

The girl shook her head, looking at him with pity.

"I'm sorry," she said, calmly.

"I just can't do that..."

“WHY THE FUCK NOT?”

Khrinan pondered this for a moment.

“They think I’m you,” she said, after a while.

“And you think the only way to prove you’re not me is to kill me?” Alex called, in disbelief.

“Well, yes…”

Khrinan scratched the back of her neck.

“That’s what I did with Scott,” she said, matter-of-factly.

Chest-deep in frustration, Alex waded to the center of the hall and jumped for the main door.

“What are you doing?” Khrinan called.

Alex cursed under his breath, trying to turn the large metal wheel with slippery hands.

"You shouldn't do that!"

Alex scowled.

"You're in the fucking escape chute, so this is the only way out!"

Khrinan put a hand to her forehead, trying to contain a conscience-induced headache.

I want him to die, don't I?

She hesitated, but called, "I think you need to think this through!"

But before she could finish her admonition, Alex had forced the main door open.

Water raged into the submarine like a flash flood.

The massive inward force flushed Alex down the hall until he hit the door of the escape chute.

Begging for mercy, Alex knocked on the window.

Khrinan shook her head.

"I'm sorry!" she called, almost mocking him.

“I’m sorry and I’ll miss you…”

Alex continued to slam on the window until Khrinan reached up.

She did not open the escape chute.

Instead, she reached behind her ear and pulled off her mask, revealing her true identity.

Alex's eyes widened at the sight of his old friend.

Bubbles escaped his nose.

There was something like a cough, and a mass of air escaped his mouth.

He choked, and then was still.

Khrinan stared at his lifeless body, floating around in the sub.

The crew stared in disbelief as the name of their attacker flashed by the windows.

They could only watch as the nose of the Red October smashed into the base of a mountain, eventually hitting the control room, and exploding completely.

The boom echoed through the water, shaking the Nautilus and all who were aboard it.

Max soon realized that Alex was not among them.

Alex had been aboard the Red October.