Draco Dwarf iii

“We are taking on water, and quickly. Just wake up the crew and get ‘em down here!” He slammed the phone down onto the receiver as he nervously looked around the control booth.

Countless dials, gauges switches, buttons and controls surrounded George as he sat there nervously thinking for a moment. I gotta’ stop the main, I need to get that plugged up somehow, he thought as he continued to look around for the answers. Acting on impulse and nearly independently of his mind he raced over to the emergency stops and killed the port diesel engine. The engine room grew quieter and suddenly the loud roar of the engine died off. Thank GOD that’s done!

“Listen, I just shut down the port engine,” he conveyed calmly over the crackly phone up to the bridge.

“You did what?” Why would you do that, it was our only propulsion,” assured the still confused watch stander up on the bridge.

“Listen, the water was coming from the port shaft seal and I needed to stop the shaft in order to fix the problem. Is the crew up yet?

“Whoah! I just got… I just spoke to the Captain and let him kno…”

Cutting the voice on the bridge off, “You haven’t got the crew up yet? I needed more people down here five minutes ago.”

“I know, I’m going to get them up now.”

“I need them down here A.S.A.P.!” Yelled George as he again slammed the phone back onto the receiver.

            The rapid clanging of the bell on the bridge over the intercom followed by the ominous “Now there is flooding in the engine room. Flooding in the engine room,” was enough to wake the crew at that odd hour of the night. Lights in staterooms, quarters and all the spaces below decks began to flicker on in rapid succession as the ship suddenly came to life. Captain Younger quickly made his way up the ladder to the bridge and tried to assess the situation.