like this before, and a pulse of alarm that warned him of grave danger, not for himself, but for the ship.
No, dear god, not now, thought Fedorov. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet! It was many days before the Admiral collapsed like this, and by that time, Karpov had already been convinced that they had shifted to the past. Yet now, in this critical moment, command of the most powerful ship in the world would suddenly fall to the Captain, and what might he do?
“Careful men,” said Karpov. “Easy with him through that hatch.” He looked at his navigator now, seeing a look on his face of shock and distress. “You wish to join him, Fedorov? Because this nonsense you’ve been spouting here is just this far from crazy.”
Karpov held up a thumb and finger, an inch apart. He stood tall, moving towards the Captain’s chair. “Ships that were scrapped over 70 years ago do not miraculously re-float themselves, so with your nose always in those history books, you are seeing too many goblins in the woods. As senior officer on the bridge, I will now exercise my own judgment on this matter and get some results. Mister Samsonov… prepare to fire a warning shot over the bow of those ships out there. Activate the 100mm bow gun.”
“Captain,” said Fedorov quickly. “Don’t forget the helicopter. If you fire now they might take it down!” He said anything he could to buy time, though Karpov was not happy to hear his voice again.
“I told you once, Fedorov—sit down and see to the ship’s navigation. Another word out of you and—”
“Signal on secure channel 272!” said Nikolin suddenly. “He had been watching the growing tension and conflict on the bridge, and with an odd inner feeling of fear, believing he had sat in this chair before and felt the same dark thing. There was something about Fedorov now… he seemed different. For him to stand up like this and engage the senior officers, particularly in the face of the Captain’s obvious anger and displeasure, was most unusual. He remembered the conversation they had the previous night, and how he had warned Fedorov to be careful around Karpov, but the Navigator seemed intent on something here. That message he had suggested was very strange, but here was a response!
“What is it Nikolin, quickly please.” Karpov had one eye on Fedorov, his head slightly inclined as he listened.
“It reads back just what Fedorov said, sir. ‘Roger Geronimo. Ready on fleet protocol one, HMS Invincible standing by—over.”
“HMS Invincible? That was one of their aircraft carriers. Yes? Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Karpov rubbed his hands together.
Part XII
The Second Coming
“History never repeats itself, but the Kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends…. no occurrence is sole and solitary, but is merely a repetition of a thing which has happened before, and perhaps often.”
— Mark Twain
Chapter 34
“That will not be an aircraft carrier,” said Fedorov, realizing his position was very precarious on the bridge now after the demise of Admiral Volsky. Thankfully, Orlov had accompanied the medic carrying the Admiral to sick bay, but Karpov could be very volatile, and quite unpredictable. Nikolin’s interruption had helped just a little with the report of that signal, but soon the inevitable conflict with Karpov would have to play out, and the last time he had challenged the Captain, Karpov had him relieved.
How to avoid that, he thought? How do I engage Karpov so that he will not merely dismiss me? How to convey what is happening now in a way that might persuade him?
“Not a carrier?” said Karpov.
“It was decommissioned in 2005, sir, and sold to a Turkish company to be scrapped in 2011.”
“Then this is a new ship?”
“Not by that name sir. You and I both know there is no HMS Invincible currently in active service with the Royal Navy.”
“So we are receiving messages from another ghost ship here?” Karpov smiled. “Or perhaps they are still playing out their little game.”
Now Fedorov decided to take a very grave risk. He had to do something dramatic, something that would be so striking that it would arrest the inevitable escalation that Karpov would surely initiate here.
“Captain, if you take that radio call, you will be speaking with a man named Admiral John Tovey, commander of the British Home Fleet. He will likely ask to speak with Admiral Volsky, or to me.”
“To you?” The notion that the British would even know