Megalodon - Rookie Burwick (book recommendations for young adults TXT) 📗

about. He didn't quite understand why it was so tight as far as security, but that was not his business. He needed to focus on completeing the task, not the forces surrounding it. The other guys, Dr. Ian Lisster and Dr. Arlo Chenworth, were also a big part of the whole thing.

Lissiter and him were the engineers, as he was told, who would help design the machanical part of the project. Chenworth was just the scientist who came up with the blue-prints and the designs themselves. He was the one who had the easiest part of the job. But, despite that fact, he didn't mind getting his hands dirty. Between his brains and strength, and Lissiter's knowledge of this project, they could easily finish everything before the month was out. But, of course, he couldn't say that just yet. For all he knew, it could take more than a month to even begin. He had contacted both Chenworth and Lissiter and had tried to get some info out of them, but neither would talk. However, Lissiter was more willing then Chenworth. He and Lissiter had always been close friends, and still were. But even before the captain had contacted him, Lissiter had. The man knew him well enough to know what kind of "projects" he would come along to work on. And now, he sat in the rear of the chopper, glazing out. He couldn't help the nausia. It was natural for him, mainly because he got queezy every time he even looked at a photo of a helicopter or airplane, or any other type of aircraft. He couldn' remember for sure, but his thoughts told him that this was his first time flying.

He looked down at the small tablet that lay in his lap, iching to pick it up, and look through the plans one last time. But he had memorized them real well already. First thing to do was to get settledin. Second thing was to get to work in a lab that the captain had prepared for him. He would begin working on the project along with Lassiter, who just happened to also be on board the USS Tulsa, which made him more comfortable. He knew that man well, and trusted him. Lassiter was scheduled to be on board the USS Billings, but it's captain didn't trust him enough. According to the USS Tulsa's captain, Lissiter was rejected right away by the Billings.

At his feet was a large dufflebag full of clothes and papers. Despite the light objects inside it, it was really heavy.

"Okay, we're nearing the ship," the pilot's voice suddenly made him jump.

"Excellent. Let me know when you begin to land," he replied.

As they neared the small naval vessel, he leaned forward and looked down at it. He had imagined it being much bigger, but the reality side of his brain knew it was a smaller, Indipendence-class vessel. Though it was barley see-able through the fog, he still could make out the important details. The tall radar pole stuck high above the bridge, and the deck was a farley well-size one, yet small.

"We're going to have to circle a couple of times to land, but that won't take long."

"Don't tell me anything. Just do what you have to do."

The pilot reached up and pressed a button on his head radio. "Come in, USS Tulsa."

"Hello, Harbin Z-9, this is the USS Tulsa responding."

"Are we clear to land?"

"Yes, you are clear to land."

The pilot said nothing further and looked back to the window. It surprised him how quickly these people worked. The only other experience he'd had with any type of ship had been a very long and lagging one. The pilots circled around for the third time now, and he could only stare into the grey nothingness. The helicopter circled around again, having reached the end of it's last circle, and proceeded to continue circling. That was another big thing he didn't understand about aircraft; especially helicopters. The pilots had to circle around the landing sight so many bloody times.

He looked down at the deck again, and could see a few men scattered here and there, doing they're duties. The sight was not only a normal one, but an interesting one as well.

"We are now landing," the pilot said suddenly.

He only nodded and watched out the window. The world outside began to spin as the chopper lowered towards the deck. But, only moments later, it stabalized, and he saw the dock up close. It was bigger than he had thought, but was still quite small. The chopper gently landed on the deck, and the engine's roar now became much louder as it echoed off the metal walls of the bridge.

"This is your stop, Dr. Jacobs," the pilot said.

"Thank you boys. I'll see ya in a month or two."

Both pilots nodded, smiled, and then turned back to the window as he pulled the door open. He quickly grabbed up his dufflebag, and swung it over his shoulder. A grunt escaped from his mouth as the strap dropped onto his shoulder. 

The chilly outside air burst inside, and breeze whipped his black hair around as he stepped out and onto the deck, shutting the door tightly behind him. Luckily enough, his strong stubble beard was far too short to flip around in the breeze. He looked up into the sky, and took a deep breath. Being on board a ship at sea was going to take some getting used to. But he didn't have hardly anything to worry about thanks to the fact that he had never really experienced any trouble with seasickenss.

He turned and walked a few steps towards the bridge, admiring it's size and height. It was covered with doorways, staricases, poles, moniters and outside stations for advanced weapontry control. It was all here, packed and crammed into this small ship. In his amazment and sight-seeing, he hadn't noticed that the chopper had left already. He turned around to find it flying away from the deck, leaving him to his task on board the USS Tulsa.

"Good morning, Dr. Jacobs," he heard a voice call out from somewhere on deck.

He looked around at the men which were on the deck, and soon caught sight of an older looking fellow walking towards him. His hair was cut somewhat short and was a very dark brown color. It was almost black, with a hint of grey. He was dressed in a very nice uniform with brass buttons, pins and patches covering every inch of it's surface. Walking behind him were four other men, all of them dressed in dark black millitary looking uniforms, and all of them carrying weapontry.

"You must be captain Dob," he said at last, now smiling.

"That I am," the man replied. It was Liam Dob, the captain of the USS Tulsa, and a fine captain too.

"Well, this is a pleasure," he said.

The captain approached and shook his hand with a firm grip. "Welcome abord."

"Thank you, captain. This is a fine ship you've got here."

"Oh, much thanks, Dr. Jacobs," the captain turned and looked up at the bridge. "It's small, but it still has it's place in the DESRON."

He paused for a moment. "Allow me to introduce my heads of security," he turned to the armed men.

"This is Sgt. Mirhon, the cheif of security."

They shook hands. "Nice to meet you, soilder."

"Same, Dr. Jacobs."

"And this is Sgt. Rollind."

The second officer stepped forward and shook his hand. He nodded at the armed man as he stepped back.

"The others are Sgt. Tranklind and Sgt. Rogers. They're job is to secure the ship every few hours."

"Sounds interesting."

"And I must say, they've done quite a job."

"This is also quite a fog we have out here."

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it. How about you?"

"Well, I haven't been out to sea much."

"Aren't you a marine biologist?"

"Yes, a fomer marine biologist. But I spent most of my time studying small sea life from the shore."

"Ah, I see. That would explain why you now are working with us on this project."

"Speaking of that, might I ask what this project is all about?"

The captain looked around for a moment. "I'de preffer it if we talked inside my corders. Lets get you out of this cold."

They both hurried across the deck, keeping at a quick pace. It only took about two minutes before they reached the first staircase, and tredged slowly up it, with Dob in the lead. All the while, he continued to look around and gaze at various objects on deck, most of which were covered by tarps. They climbed off the last step and now stood on a small platform that lead inside the bridge.

"Inside is the main control room. My corders are just across the hall from there," Dob held out his arm and stepped aside to allow Marlin in first.

As he stepped inside, he saw the long rows of computers, keyboards an buttons that stretched all throughout the room. People were seated in front of every computer, busy monitering and controling the ship. Dob walked up in front of him, then stopped and began speaking to a young, attractive woman seated just a few stations down. Her blonde hair was put up in a bun, and her lean yet charming face glazed up at him as he spoke quietly to her. Marlin waited for the captain's signal before nearing the woman's station. When he approached, the woman got up from her seat.

"Dr. Jacobs, allow me to introduce my XO, Jane."

He shook her hand and nodded a "hello" to her. But that appearently wasn't good enough.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

"Nice to meet you as well," he replied.

"That's all, Jane," Dob nodded to her, and the woman took her seat. Then he turned back to Marlin.

"Now, Dr. Jacobs, just so you know, this is usually where you can find me. I've provided you and Dr. Lissiter with a radio in your lab in case you need assistance."

"Thank you. Where is Lissiter?"

"We'll be meeting with him shortly. Now, onward?"

"Yes, onward."

He continued to follow the captain as he opened the door and stepped out into the hall. The hallway was your typical hallway. Well cleaned carpet that lined it's floors, good lighting on the ceiling. Nothing new, for him anyways. The captain walked friskly across the hall and opened another door, and beackoned him inside. The "captains corders", as they called it, was a nice and organized room, and was a bit empty. Except for a large desk and a few filing cabinets, the room was bare.

"Is this your corders?" he asked.

"Yep. This is it," Dob replied.

"Is anyone else allowed in here?"

"No, just me. But, of course, for you I've made an exception."

"Of course."

Dob took a seat behind the desk, and pulled out a drawer from the rightside. He flipped through some files, and finally pulled out a thin-looking specimen. He shut the door, then opened the folder. Marlin walked over and peered down at it's containments. The one peice of paper the the folder held was a blueprint for large naval weapontry. Or that's what it looked like, anyway.

"What's this," he asked.

"It's a construction plan for adding on to our weapons, Dr. Jacobs."

"Is that the project?"

"Yes, it is. I need you to engineer brand new weapons for the USS Tulsa, Dr. Jacobs."

He took that in for a minute, and thought about it. "Does the Naval headquaters know about this?"

"Oh, don't worry, they know. But, only you, Dr. Lissiter and the Navy can know of this."

"So, why is this so top secret?"

"Becuase, if America gets a hold of this, then it's enemies possibly could. And we don't need that."

"I get it. So, why do you want to do this."

"Security reasons. If we were to have this kind of weapontry, just think of the enemies we could eleiminate."

He nodded as he took in some more of what the captain had just said. It certainly sounded like a useful project, and maybe even profitable.

"What are these weapons gonna be made of?"

"The actual firing part will be made of the