“Oh, thank goodness! Down here, quickly,” Kiera shouted.

The crowed parted to let the trolley through. Scott had started to come round, and was groaning incomprehensibly. Erica clutched his hand; she was sobbing softly.

“I came as quickly as I could; it took ages to find this thing.”

“I know, I’m sorry. We hardly ever need it, that’s why it was packed away. Right, let’s get him on the stretcher. Undo that clip there.”

The stretcher was removed from the trolley and placed on the floor next to Scott.

“Barry, you’ll need to lift him up. Get your hands under his shoulders. I’ll take his feet. Ready? On three. One…two…three!”

The two of them half-heaved and half-dragged the semi-conscious man onto the flat surface. Despite grabbing him by the ankles, Kiera noted that his legs did not bend when he was lifted. They remained as straight as if they had been tied to splints.

“Here, let me help you with that.” A hefty man pushed his way through the crowd.

“Thanks,” Kiera said. “He’s heavier than he looks.”

The two men lifted the stretcher onto the trolley. “I’ll help you get him back down to medical,” Barry said.

“I’m coming with you!” Erica cried.

Kiera looked around at the crowd, pushing and shoving for a look at the spectacle. She didn’t think the medical rooms were the best place for the young girl, but neither could she leave her alone among strangers. “Okay, come on then.” She held out a hand. Erica grabbed it and hung on as if the life of her father depended on it.

The trip back down to deck five was made in almost total silence. Scott had lost consciousness again. Only the gentle sobbing of Erica broke the peace.

When they arrived in the small medical suite, there was no sign of Doctor Grau Lister, or David, the other nurse.

“Barry, I think it’s best if you wait in here with Erica,” Kiera said as they wheeled the trolley through the space used as a waiting room and reception.

“I want to stay with my dad!” the girl insisted.

“I know you do, but I need to be able to examine him properly. Barry will look after you, and I promise you’ll be able to see your dad again very soon. Will you be brave for me, and for him?”

Erica looked up at the nurse, her big blue eyes glistening, and nodded, unconvincingly.

“Come on, I’m trying to make up some new games for the kid zone. You can help me decide if they’re any good, yeah?” Barry led her to a seat, and Kiera disappeared through to the treatment room with her patient.

Once alone with Scott, she proceeded to remove his trousers in order to examine his legs and find out why they were so stiff. As soon as the clothing was gone it became clear that lack of mobility was not the only problem. His lower limbs were covered in huge red blotches, some of which looked like they had started to decompose. The smell was quite overpowering, causing Kiera to rush to the cupboard in search of a surgical mask. It didn’t block the dreadful odour entirely, but it helped. She set about dressing the wounds, hoping that the doctor would return quickly and be able to make a full diagnosis.

• • •

“Goodbye, for now at least, Captain.” Jake shook Coote’s hand.

“See you in a few days, unless we have another emergency!” Coote saluted to Jake, and gave a roar of laughter. “Take it easy, old boy. And good luck with the fishing project.” He strolled off down the walkway, back to his submarine. Jake was glad he wasn’t following him.

“Okay, lads, let’s get that thing retracted and get underway,” he said.

Four sailors nodded in unison, and with the help of colleagues on the Ambush they detached the walkway and set about bringing the entire telescopic structure back on board.

Jake picked up the courtesy telephone by the doorway and called to the bridge. “We’re ready to go. Tell Chuck to take it easy until the sub has partially dived. Ahead ten knots.”

As the men hauled the last length of walkway on board, the ship started to move gently forwards, the Ambush matching her speed perfectly. Jake saw the hatch on top of the conning tower being pulled closed. The submarine tilted its nose down very slightly, and the surface of the hull slipped under the water. The tower became smaller and smaller until just the top couple of metres were visible above the small waves. The thick bunch of cables connecting the two vessels remained clear of the sea, just.

“I hope that umbilical cord is waterproof,” one of the sailors said to Jake.

“Martin assures me that there’s no danger, even if the Ambush goes under entirely.”

“Why is she travelling partially submerged, sir, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She’s designed for efficient sailing underwater. We can go faster if she’s under.”

“How long will it take to get to Scotland?”

“A couple of days, maybe three to reach the base itself. That’s the upper estimate. But we might be able to get there more quickly. It all depends on the load the reactor can handle. This is all theory; it’s never been done before.”

“Makes you wonder why we carried all that diesel around all these years. I don’t know how much one of those nuclear things costs, but I reckon it’s cheaper than all the fuel this ship’s burned in its lifetime. Bugger all emissions, too. They should have built one into the Arcadia”

“Maybe. I’m not sure the prospect would be quite as appealing to our typical clientele though. Diesel may not be exactly clean, but at least there’s no risk of meltdown.”

Jake took a last look at the sliver of black cutting its way through the ocean alongside them before heading off.

• • •

Jake’s next port of call was deck seven. Three men, each well wrapped up against the cold, were waiting for him.

“So, give me some good news. Is it ready?” Jake asked, shaking each man by the hand in turn.

“It’s as good as it’s going to be,” the tallest man said. He was blond, and spoke with a Swedish accent. His tired eyes betrayed his lack of sleep from working all hours on the project. “The ladies have done an amazing job. Given what they had to work with, this net is a work of art. I just hope the winch is up to it.”

“It was designed to lower a fully loaded lifeboat, Stieg, I think it can cope with a fishing net,” Jake smiled.

“Lowering is one thing. Pulling a full net out of the water is different.”

“If the net gets filled, that will be a good problem to have. Don’t let me hold you up if you’re ready, I’m just observing.”

Stieg nodded, and turned and spoke to the other men in Swedish. The three of them arranged themselves around the fishing net. Jake had to agree, given the constraints of working with any bits of string and old rope they could find around the ship, it really was quite an achievement. It had been Lucya’s idea to put retired ladies to work on the project under the supervision of the professional fishermen. Their many hands had made light work of the complicated design. The delicate and aged fingers of expert lace makers and crochet enthusiasts had worked alongside the rough hands of lifelong trawler men. Their creation was, in its own way, quite beautiful. It was certainly the most colourful fishing net any of the fishermen had ever seen.

Now it was attached to a repaired lifeboat winch. The three men heaved it over the starboard side. It unfurled like a sail in the wind, its impressive size becoming truly apparent for the first time.

Stieg was positioned by the winch. He stretched his arms out in front of him, hands interlocked, knuckles cracking, then took the winch in hand and began to turn. His colleagues watched intently as the net was lowered towards the sea. Although this kind of operation was familiar territory to them, they had never worked from such a height above the water. Their elevation negated the need for a traditional trawl gantry. Instead the steel cables that connected the net to the winch were fed through the metal structure that had once had a lifeboat suspended from it. The further the net descended, and the longer the steel cables attaching it to the winch became, the more the whole assembly billowed and flapped. It was becoming difficult to control.