Ke visibly flinched at Akin swearing, Perry saw the reaction and guessed that it was highly unusual for both of them.
“You speak nerd, sir?” Wells was trying to push past the awkward moment and get to the details.
Akin held a sheet of paperwork up and offered it to Ke, “You’re medical, you can tell what these numbers mean much better than I.”
Ke took the sheet and leaned back in her chair, scanning the list of numbers. Akin explained what the lab technicians had translated for him.
“There’s some sort of oxygen isotope that’s being emitted from the whole damn ship. It can’t penetrate the wet suits so they’re thinking it’s not highly radioactive, but it’s-” Ke began to speak, cutting off Akin.
“It’s eliminating free radicals and repairative to tissue. It’s super healing, at least it looks that way from this.” She offered the sheet back to Akin, sure that Perry and Wells weren’t interested in the vague numbers.
“Would that explain the aging process?” Pried Wells
Ke seemed to think a moment before shaking her head, “It explains that their aging is different, but they still grow old…grew old…something. It would just be slowed. I’d guess that their bodies and muscle density is that of 40 year olds of they were 20 and 30 when the transitions began.”
“Then what the hell does the Kettle do?” Perry was already on step five or six of figuring out how to deal with this problem.
Ke pointed to a passage she had been scanning, “It’s an engine, weapon, science lab.”
October 16, 1944 Kaptain Sajer U-5918 Brunhilde
Today was a challenging day. Events came to a head with Lieutenant Kessler in the science bay. The man has been shirking his duties to be with the Science team more and more and when a navigational turn was missed during his time at watch ,that he wasn’t there for, the desertion of duties was too much. I had Hochberg and two of the strong lads from the Salvage Teams secure Kessler to his quarters while I figured out a replacement. The Lieutenant did not offer a struggle or a fight, he seemed to welcome being relieved of command, asking only to remain attached to the science team.
Burton asked to speak with my privately about Kessler and it appears the young lieutenant has been harboring deep communist sympathies. We are a long way from home, away from communications lines, and without Kessler’s background file. The accusation is quite serious but I haven’t the resources to figure out the extent of such a security risk. Burton went on to explain why he thinks the Kettle failed back near te Greenland coast.
His knowledge of the machine is unparalleled, I’m sure, but his ability to break down the details so this old salt dog can understand him are a little lacking. He did his best, for what that is worth. The Kettle uses a new energy source that creates heat, the heat creates steam, the steam pushes a dynamo or something. That’s the power that pushes the ship and does so silently, we knew that much. Brunhilde takes on sea water and puts out Kettle Steam, which we use for power as well as diving operations. It also powers the gyroscope to let the ship settle in any direction, but most importantly to keep the kettle upright. When we surfaced, the rocking on the top, without the gyroscope active, let the kettle tilt too much and spilled some of its ability. Burton explained that the spill was dangerous but contained and would not be an issue again with the gyroscope active, but cautioned against ever turning it off.
Apparently I have become the first maritime commander of a torpedo. I grow concerned that our voyage to the NYC harbor is destined to be a one way operation.