blogwithvalor

The Fate of the Telegraph Operator

The electronic radiotelegraph was a buzz with news this evening as Richard entered the ship’s radio room. His partner James saw him enter and gathered up a few messages he must have written from other ships. He and James always took turns at the machines, trying to give each other enough time to eat and sleep. They were on a large fishing vessel from the United States of America and since the sinking of the Titanic a couple years ago, the captain thought it prudent to constantly have the radiotelegraph manned. It seemed like a fair concern to Richard as they were in the northern Atlantic and near ice on occasion.

As James took the headset off, he told Richard that 3 ships reported a massive oncoming storm that appeared out of nowhere. It didn’t make any sense. The ships seemed to be coming from the East, the direction they were heading, but outside there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. So, James was going to report the news to the captain, just to be thorough. He patted Richard on the shoulder and left the room.

Richard settled down in the radio room, ready for his shift. The seat was hard and a little uneven. The entire room was well worn, having been a private sleeping quarter in years past. When Richard put on his headset, he immediately heard Morse Code come flying into his ears.

C – Q – D

It was a distress call used by telegraphers in the UK. The USA had just recently established SOS as the national standard, but the rest of the world still had their own methods. Richard tried reaching out to the distressed ship, asking what was wrong. They replied.

S-T-O-R-M-M-O-N-S-T-E-R-T-U-R-N-B-A-C-K

Richard stared at the message he had just written from the other ship. He figured to have misinterpreted it. Maybe it was a type of code from the UK he hadn’t heard before. He asked them to clarify.

There was no reply.

After a few minutes of silence, James came back into the room. “Well, captain thinks some amateur radio kids must be trying to pull one over on us. There ain’t a cloud in the sky.”

Richard handed the note he’d written from the other ship. “It’s got to be. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yea, I got the same thing from them. Storm monster. It don’t make a lick of sense.”

“But if it is amateurs, how do you think they got the message to us? We’re hundreds of miles away from either coast.”

“I’ve heard people getting messages clear across the Pacific if the weather is right. It’s rare but it can happen.”

“I guess you’re right. I’ll finish up here and come get you when I’m done.”

James crumpled up the message and nodded to Richard before leaving the room. Richard pulled out his book, “20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”, and started reading. For all the importance of radiotelegraphy, a lot of time was spent doing nothing. So he’d always have a book on hand. He’d read this one more times than he could remember, but it always helped keep him calm onboard the ship. The fantastical nature of Captain Nemo and his submarine always gave Richard a sense of nostalgia for older times when ships still had sails and a skilled harpooner was a man to be admired.

Richard’s nose was deep in the book when a sudden jolt shook the entire room. He looked up and saw that everything around him was swaying back and forth. He pulled off the headset and could hear the sound of rain falling.

Richard emerged onto the poop deck to a completely black sky. Men were turning on lights and hard at work tying things down. Richard worked his way to the main deck to find the captain.

“Captain, where did this storm come from?”

The captain looked preoccupied and severely annoyed but answered, “The God damn storm came out of nowhere. The sea’s picking up on top of it. I don’t have time to go over this.”

It was enough of a dismissal for Richard to turn around and head back to the radio room. He could wait there. As he made his way back down to the poop, the ship started swaying violently from side to side. He fell over the staircase’s handrail and landed hard on his back. He tried to curl into a ball in pain, but the swaying only sent him colliding with the walls on either side of him. Grasping at a nearby pole, Richard slowly stood up. He tried to feel the rhythm of the swaying. Generally, the waves rocking the ship came in a pattern and Richard could find some sense of sturdiness in that, but there was no rhythm here. It was more like someone was shaking the ship to feel what was inside.

Another hard shake sent Richard into the bulwark. His stomach hit the railing hard. He was bent over it looking towards the side of the ship and the dark sea below. Long tentacles had were coming up from the water and holding to the sides of the ship. It was too dark to see much detail, but they were about as thick as he was tall. Richard’s entire body went white at the sight.

Just then he heard planks cracking and heard men shouting. Richard ran to the radio room and found James already there, headset on. James saw Richard and pulled off the headset.

Richard was holding his sides panting, “James, I don’t know how to say this.”

“I know, I know. The God damn messages were real.”

“Did you see it?”

“Yea, went out as soon as the rain started and saw them tentacles grabbing the sides of the ship. Ain’t no telling how big the creature they come from is, but captain wouldn’t hear any of it. Dismissed me immediately.” James looked down towards the floor.

“I must have seen him right after you, he seemed rather annoyed with me.”

“Can’t blame him. I think it sounds crazy.”

“I just heard some planks breaking when I was above deck. I think we ought to send out a warning.”

James nodded in agreement, putting back on the headset. The room started shaking violently again. Richard could see the worry in James brow as he tapped the machine and sent out a warning to any ship that could hear them. Richard spelled out James’ message in his mind as he heard the tapping.

S-O-S-S-T-O-R-M-M-O-N-S-T-E-R-T-U-R-N-B-A-C-K

Richard put his hand on James shoulder, steadying himself and trying his best to be comforting. A loud crash came from outside and water rushed into the room.