The Seventh Secret

Chapter 22 — The Second Secret

In the afternoon, Crystal got word from her men on the salvage tug that they would soon arrive in South African waters.

"We can start collecting our gear so long, people," Purdue announced as Crystal filled him in on the schedule. "Naturally the first part of the expedition revolves around the most trying and daring of all our tasks concerning Dr. Malgas' find. That is, of course, to tow the wreck into international waters without the local authorities getting wind of it.”

“Cutting it thin, aren’t we?” Dr. Malgas asked with a heavy weight of worry in his voice. He chugged back some brandy, looking quite the worse for wear since his argument with Dr. Gould. It seemed that he had abandoned all care about the ramifications of his doings, as long as he could tag along and take credit for the lost ship when the time came. His weary eyes sought Mieke’s face, who assured him with a nod that everything would work swimmingly if he kept his cool during the process.

“Cutting it thin is what we do best, Dr. Malgas,” Purdue smiled. “We have learned under harrowing circumstances that there is not really no alternative to just biting the bullet and getting things done.”

“We have researched the coastline well, Dr. Malgas,” Crystal reassured him, appearing next to Purdue as if she was his shadow. “We have investigated all the angles and factors carefully, so don’t fret. We have obtained the coast guard’s roster and schedule to make sure they do not pass us by at an inconvenient time, so to speak,” she smiled at Purdue and Sam.

Nina watched the affair with a keen eye, feeling the tension between all the factions in this excursion, but keeping her doubts and judgments firmly to herself. Crystal spoke like a stewardess, very sure of herself. But Nina wondered if the master diver was really as confident as she led on. Certainly the notion that the ship was a not what they had thought it would be had to leave her, at least, a little bit insecure.

“I have been making notes about the routines of our neighbors, their habits and such,” Sam winked at Billy Malgas. “Between myself, Purdue and Crystal we have made sure that our window of operation stays undeterred while we work.”

Crystal cleared her throat, still reeling from the secret they shared. “I hate to play Devil’s Advocate here, but…” she took a moment as everyone turned their attentions to her, “…but won’t the locals find a salvage tug a bit suspicious right here in their waters?”

As if he had been waiting for someone to ask that very question, Purdue’s face lit up. With a warm smile, he walked toward Crystal and explained, “Oh, we have no concerns about that, my dear. I have a device I have been working on since Sam informed me of this fascinating operation back in Edinburgh.”

Cheryl, Mieke, and Dr. Malgas perked up to see what Purdue was doing when he retrieved the item from a sturdy iron case. Inside the case, it was resting in a molded foam cradle to protect it from excessive vibration or impact. The gleaming little contraption gleamed like a mirrored box with a thin lid, which served as a screen or view finder for the genius inventor to mark coordinates on.

“This is the TechMag Satellite Manipulator,” he said proudly.

“Hey, I haven’t seen that one yet,” Sam mumbled, coming to scrutinize it.

“No, no-one has. I thought to keep it on hand just until I had examined the conditions under which we had to move the wreck to get it out of the 12-mile-zone,” Purdue revealed. “I designed it while we were waiting to get our logistics sorted out. Lovely little thing, isn’t it?”

Nina frowned, “And now, ladies and gentlemen, the question we all have on our tongues… allow me. What does it do?”

Sam snickered, but the rest of the group seemed spellbound by the device, waiting with bated breath, ready to take in the incomprehensible jargon Purdue would use to explain his invention to them.

"It will most probably sound like science fiction to you all, but in fact, it is very simple," Purdue began. "With this frequency modulator, I can manipulate certain satellites into applying the electro-magnetic resonance normally used in seismic imaging, for instance, to disturb the spin dynamics of protons in the atmosphere… "

“Wait, wait,” Dr. Malgas interrupted. “Please, Mr. Purdue, can you explain the non-engineers amongst us can understand it as well?” Upon Malgas’ interruption, just about everyone agreed.

“Not that we don’t appreciate your exceptional scientific knowledge, Dave,” Nina soothed, “but we just need to know what the little silver box of yours does to the ship out there.”

She added a wink to soften the blow of ignorance Purdue must have felt at Malgas so rudely interrupting him.

“Very well,” he sighed amicably, shifting his spectacles a bit higher on the bridge of his nose. “It makes the satellites I choose shoot a beam into the atmosphere to disturb it wherever I point the device.”

"And then?" Sam asked, intrigued.

Purdue smiled. He knew Sam was sharp when it came to deducing things and trusted that the journalist would comprehend better than the others. “Then, the active disturbance in the particles in the water will literally alter the geophysical properties of the subsurface, my lad!”

“You mean it will cause the water around the wreck to do something so that the sand will be rearranged?” Sam asked slowly, keeping his voice low, trying not to sound too foolish.

“Wow!” Crystal reveled at the thought. “If that is the case, I can totally see where you are going with this.”

“Precisely,” Purdue grinned, holding up the device, showing off the screen displaying coordinates and frequency waves at work. “Once we shift the sediment on the ocean floor around the wreck, it will literally move the ship with it toward the magnetic field where the pull is strongest."

“Like geomagnetic forces prompt birds to migrate?” Nina asked.

“Much like that yes, Nina,” Purdue nodded. “It will do what the ocean does anyway, but it will accelerate the movement to such an extent that this will happen in a very short time.”

“Is anyone else finding this very dangerous or am I missing something?” Nina admitted, her arms folded tightly in front of her chest and her thumb nail between her teeth as she spoke. “This kind of geological shift would significantly influence tidal behavior, wouldn’t it?”

She was met with silence, so she continued, "I mean if the ocean floor suddenly moved a gigantic fucking ship around like it's a chess piece, that amount of sediment and water would be instantly displaced, right? How come nobody else is seeing this?”

“I see it,” Crystal agreed quietly, staring at the floor to find an answer to their predicament.

“I have thought of that, Nina,” Purdue answered her, “but this is a chance we have to take. Perhaps if I made subtle adjustments, the result would be less dramatic than, say, a tsunami or an earthquake.”

“I have to concur with Nina here, Dave,” Crystal declared with a stern concerned expression. “Don’t get me wrong, it is an appealing idea and quite remarkable in theory, but you are endangering the lives of the locals, especially those who live close to the coastline.”

“We can at least try it,” Sam suggested. “We could attempt a little nudge first, to see about the effects. That way we could gradually adjust the level of force in the water and the sand.”

“They have different densities, Sam,” Nina argued. “How can you exert a certain amount of force on the sand, enough to move the wreck, without perturbing the less stable water above it?”

Purdue had to concede; he was at a loss. "I had not thought of that; not in practice, at least. Nina, you are quite correct.”

"So now what do we do?" Zain chipped in from the bar counter. For the first time, he had an open opinion, based firmly in his greed. "Why can't we just dive down to the wreck and see what’s in there?”

Dr. Malgas, Mieke, and Cheryl, in particular, gaped at his ignorant argument. Least of all, they did not need him to sabotage the integrity of their goal in this entire exercise.

“I think that is obvious, Zain,” Dr. Malgas replied with a mock lecture, trying desperately to alleviate his embarrassment in front of the Scots and the German. “We could be seen bringing up objects from the bottom of the sea by the people who frequent the beach, the people who live here? Remember them?”

Zain detested the lecturer’s patronizing tone, yet he knew he had to maintain his charade at all costs. Mieke shook her head at the idiocy of the security advisor as Dr. Malgas further explained the potential negative repercussions of Zain’s suggestion to him in a private conversation in the kitchen where they pretended to look for a late lunch. Cheryl kept her mouth shut, alarmed at Zain’s ludicrous assumption that he was invited to their brainstorming. She flashed her eyes to Sibu, who just kept gnawing on a T-bone from the previous night’s braai.

“Now, I am open to suggestions, but need I remind you all that Crystal’s contractors should be arriving shortly to tow the wreck further away from the coast into international waters?” Purdue sighed. “There simply is no other way to do this without a bit of a risk.”

Sam slapped his hands on his knees before rising from his chair, “I say we give it a try, regardless. It will not benefit us sitting here, worrying about something we have not even tried yet. We really don’t have much of a choice, ladies.”

Nina and Crystal shrugged, but they were both opposed to the idea that scratched at their ethics. The sea would not take lightly to being disturbed like that, they all knew, but it was a secret salvage. How else were they going to get it done without resorting to extreme measures?

Purdue took their expressions as votes and finally he knew they had no choice.

“Let’s do it.”