JonDLundyn Parker 2 24
February 26th 2007 22:33
.Chapter 14
Ramid Ben-Artim was on the phone to his cohort on board “Ocean King”, things were not looking good. He had seen a big success with the fires and his dreams had been more than fulfilled in that respect. Even now, far out to sea the cloud was hanging like an oily mist in the sky. But the plan for setting off the chemical drums with charges to pollute the water supply had been a dismal failure. Failure he could and often had lived with, but this time it had come from an unsuspected source. The public themselves had fought against him. They had pulled together like nothing he or his planning committee could have foreseen. It just was not supposed to be able to happen that millions of people could just organise themselves as quickly and efficiently as the Australian population had. Now he had problems with the “Ocean King” the commander of his troops deployed there was not sure he could do what was required. It was just too big he had complained.
The “Ocean King” was a modern mega-tanker. It had a double bottom and sides which meant that if it ran up on rocks or was holed by another vessel it would still have an inside hull protecting the cargo. International law had been passed that all newly built tankers would be built this way. The explosions that would normally rip through a steel hull would be useless unless the internal hull could be breached at the same time. The tanker had twenty tanks built along each side and another twenty down the middle giving it fifty tanks overall. The middle tanks could not be got at from the sides as they were protected by the side tanks. Exploding from the bottom would not help as the oil was lighter than water and would not leave the hull that way. It would mean using the on board pumps to pump the fuel directly overboard but that did not have the dramatic effect of an explosion and the resultant spill. He as also unsure that his charges were strong enough to penetrate both hulls a total of forty times now that his plastic had to be stretched so far. Nothing but total destruction was going to satisfy him.
The internal spaces of the “Ocean King” had been filled with ballast water once the explosions were set. This had the effect of lowering the tanker in the water, it rested its stern upon a submerged rock and its huge bulbous bow deep in a sand bar. The bottom of the hull had only two metres of clearance at low tide. The huge form cut off the channel which was almost a nautical mile in width. The minor channels either side were also protected by the rockets on board the ship. If they had wanted to, and no ship owner did, risk coming near the “Ocean King”, none would survive.
Ramid Ben-Artim was on the phone to his cohort on board “Ocean King”, things were not looking good. He had seen a big success with the fires and his dreams had been more than fulfilled in that respect. Even now, far out to sea the cloud was hanging like an oily mist in the sky. But the plan for setting off the chemical drums with charges to pollute the water supply had been a dismal failure. Failure he could and often had lived with, but this time it had come from an unsuspected source. The public themselves had fought against him. They had pulled together like nothing he or his planning committee could have foreseen. It just was not supposed to be able to happen that millions of people could just organise themselves as quickly and efficiently as the Australian population had. Now he had problems with the “Ocean King” the commander of his troops deployed there was not sure he could do what was required. It was just too big he had complained.
The “Ocean King” was a modern mega-tanker. It had a double bottom and sides which meant that if it ran up on rocks or was holed by another vessel it would still have an inside hull protecting the cargo. International law had been passed that all newly built tankers would be built this way. The explosions that would normally rip through a steel hull would be useless unless the internal hull could be breached at the same time. The tanker had twenty tanks built along each side and another twenty down the middle giving it fifty tanks overall. The middle tanks could not be got at from the sides as they were protected by the side tanks. Exploding from the bottom would not help as the oil was lighter than water and would not leave the hull that way. It would mean using the on board pumps to pump the fuel directly overboard but that did not have the dramatic effect of an explosion and the resultant spill. He as also unsure that his charges were strong enough to penetrate both hulls a total of forty times now that his plastic had to be stretched so far. Nothing but total destruction was going to satisfy him.
The internal spaces of the “Ocean King” had been filled with ballast water once the explosions were set. This had the effect of lowering the tanker in the water, it rested its stern upon a submerged rock and its huge bulbous bow deep in a sand bar. The bottom of the hull had only two metres of clearance at low tide. The huge form cut off the channel which was almost a nautical mile in width. The minor channels either side were also protected by the rockets on board the ship. If they had wanted to, and no ship owner did, risk coming near the “Ocean King”, none would survive.
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