there
is that those ships turned about. It appears the British have no hostile
intentions here, though Karpov isn’t quite convinced of that yet. As to the
lack of wreckage, I got the report from the submersible. Nothing was found.”
“And
nothing will be found sir. I told the Captain as much.”
“Well
nothing was found yet, Mister Fedorov, but the water here can be very deep, and
the submersible was not down there long. This is still an unanswered question
in my mind.”
“But
sir… What about the sun and moon data?” Fedorov shared his objection, stating
the exact moon conditions they should expect now. “That data is not open to
speculation, sir. It is fixed, and can be accurately predicted for any date,
time, or location on earth. Believe me, I’m the ship’s navigator. If anyone has
his head on the position of the sun and moon, it would be me, sir. This was why
Karpov was so upset with the shift replacements at navigation when I fell ill.
They were using the expected sun and moon positions to try and plot manually, but
the moon wasn’t there! It wasn’t rising at the correct time, and the phase was
wrong as well. We should have moonrise at 21:00 this evening for August 1,
2021. I can show you the data right from the computer. Yet look sir—look out
there this very moment!”
Fedorov
had chosen this time to make his visit for a very specific reason. He looked at
his watch, noting the time was perfect now, and pointed to the porthole window
that gave a view off to the east. There, peeking up from the grey horizon, was
a fat waxing moon, just as Fedorov had asserted it would be, but for another
date and time, and impossible date and time, and now he knew he had his moment.
“You
may think I am irrational, as Karpov clearly does, but the sun and moon do not
lie, sir, nor do I when I see this evidence with my own eyes. This is moonrise,
and it is now only 16:00. In a moment, you will see this is a waxing gibbous
moon. It should be a morning crescent. I noted this discrepancy the night
before I returned to my station, when I knew I was going to have to plot
manually. As soon as that fog lifted I went out to look for the moon, but it
was wrong, sir. I check this every day. That moon should not be rising now,
Admiral, any more than those two cruisers we saw should have been at sea.”
Volsky
was quiet for a moment, slowly scratching his grey eyebrow, and looking briefly
at Zolkin. “You are certain of your data on this, Mister Fedorov?”
“Absolutely.
And when I saw this anomaly, I decided to check the ship’s chronometer. Then I
reverse calculated dates where this moon condition would be valid for our
location. Unless the computer is completely wrong sir, it gives a match for
this date, August 1, but the year returned was 1941 . There was another
close match, with a waxing gibbous moonrise at 16:07 in the year 1998, two more
minutes from now. Yet August 1, 1941 produces an exact match for our present
position. And sir… That is the date time stamped on all those radio broadcasts
Nikolin has been monitoring. That is a date and time when two County Class cruisers could be at sea, and also a date and time when a man
named Admiral John Tovey was in command of the British home fleet.”
“Karpov
said you were going on about the moon being off kilter,” said Zolkin. “He
thought it was your head off kilter again. Is this what you told him?”
“Yes
Doctor, I shared this same information, but he wouldn’t listen. Then that
message came in and he went off to see about it. Yet there it is, sir. The moon
is up, plain to see, and yet every almanac you consult, and my own navigation
equipment, will tell you it should not rise until 21:00. Is the earth off
kilter? That is one possible explanation, though hardly likely. The other is
that something more profound has happened to us when we experienced all those
strange effects. The time is wrong, sir—wrong as that moon out there. We
are not where we should
is that those ships turned about. It appears the British have no hostile
intentions here, though Karpov isn’t quite convinced of that yet. As to the
lack of wreckage, I got the report from the submersible. Nothing was found.”
“And
nothing will be found sir. I told the Captain as much.”
“Well
nothing was found yet, Mister Fedorov, but the water here can be very deep, and
the submersible was not down there long. This is still an unanswered question
in my mind.”
“But
sir… What about the sun and moon data?” Fedorov shared his objection, stating
the exact moon conditions they should expect now. “That data is not open to
speculation, sir. It is fixed, and can be accurately predicted for any date,
time, or location on earth. Believe me, I’m the ship’s navigator. If anyone has
his head on the position of the sun and moon, it would be me, sir. This was why
Karpov was so upset with the shift replacements at navigation when I fell ill.
They were using the expected sun and moon positions to try and plot manually, but
the moon wasn’t there! It wasn’t rising at the correct time, and the phase was
wrong as well. We should have moonrise at 21:00 this evening for August 1,
2021. I can show you the data right from the computer. Yet look sir—look out
there this very moment!”
Fedorov
had chosen this time to make his visit for a very specific reason. He looked at
his watch, noting the time was perfect now, and pointed to the porthole window
that gave a view off to the east. There, peeking up from the grey horizon, was
a fat waxing moon, just as Fedorov had asserted it would be, but for another
date and time, and impossible date and time, and now he knew he had his moment.
“You
may think I am irrational, as Karpov clearly does, but the sun and moon do not
lie, sir, nor do I when I see this evidence with my own eyes. This is moonrise,
and it is now only 16:00. In a moment, you will see this is a waxing gibbous
moon. It should be a morning crescent. I noted this discrepancy the night
before I returned to my station, when I knew I was going to have to plot
manually. As soon as that fog lifted I went out to look for the moon, but it
was wrong, sir. I check this every day. That moon should not be rising now,
Admiral, any more than those two cruisers we saw should have been at sea.”
Volsky
was quiet for a moment, slowly scratching his grey eyebrow, and looking briefly
at Zolkin. “You are certain of your data on this, Mister Fedorov?”
“Absolutely.
And when I saw this anomaly, I decided to check the ship’s chronometer. Then I
reverse calculated dates where this moon condition would be valid for our
location. Unless the computer is completely wrong sir, it gives a match for
this date, August 1, but the year returned was 1941 . There was another
close match, with a waxing gibbous moonrise at 16:07 in the year 1998, two more
minutes from now. Yet August 1, 1941 produces an exact match for our present
position. And sir… That is the date time stamped on all those radio broadcasts
Nikolin has been monitoring. That is a date and time when two County Class cruisers could be at sea, and also a date and time when a man
named Admiral John Tovey was in command of the British home fleet.”
“Karpov
said you were going on about the moon being off kilter,” said Zolkin. “He
thought it was your head off kilter again. Is this what you told him?”
“Yes
Doctor, I shared this same information, but he wouldn’t listen. Then that
message came in and he went off to see about it. Yet there it is, sir. The moon
is up, plain to see, and yet every almanac you consult, and my own navigation
equipment, will tell you it should not rise until 21:00. Is the earth off
kilter? That is one possible explanation, though hardly likely. The other is
that something more profound has happened to us when we experienced all those
strange effects. The time is wrong, sir—wrong as that moon out there. We
are not where we should
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