Read The Last Airship for Free Online

home.
    The
swell, already reasonably large, was flowing in a consistent direction, and had
none of the usual roughness to it. Tonight, he would sleep soundly.
    He
climbed down the stairs and into the main cabin. Still wide awake, he flicked
open his laptop. It was connected to the main information and satellite system
which had cost him a fortune to have installed onboard Second Chance .
    On
the top of his computer screen, there was a picture of a mailbox and to the
right of it appeared the number 3.
    He
clicked on the icon.
    At
times, he was unsure whether or not he loved or hated having access to such
communications while at sea. He found three letters in his inbox and about a
dozen more in his spam filter. Two messages were from Deep Sea Expeditions. He
hit skip – they were probably after him, and with this storm coming in, they
were going to need everyone they could get, and they were probably trying to
rescind his leave. He was on holiday, so it was not his problem. This storm was
for him.
    The
last email was from Kevin Reed.
    Sam
had studied at MIT with Kevin, but had never had any particular relationship
with him. Kevin had been studying Geometric Variances, while Sam had been
studying Oceanography, before moving on to get his Master’s in Microbiology. He
couldn’t for the life of him come up with a reason why the man would be
emailing him now. He was pretty certain he hadn’t signed up for any alumni. Besides,
he wasn’t old enough for a reunion anyway.
    The
very thought of it made him laugh.
    He
opened the message and started reading.
    Dear
Sam,
    My
wife and I have been in Europe on a six month climbing holiday. You will never
believe what we found!This was the only one, although we continued to
search the area for two weeks before we were willing to let it go.
    I
was wondering if you could tell me where it could have come from, and whether
or not you think we might find more like it?
    Attached
was a Jpeg file showing a small gold ingot bearing at its center, the impression
of a letter G and a letter O, separated by an artistically designed infinity
symbol.
    Any
advice you could impart would be much appreciated.
    Kind
regards, Kevin and Sally.
    At
the bottom of the letter, were the words : do you want to come on a treasure
hunt?
    Sam
laughed at that.
    Why
is it that when people know that you work for an underwater salvage company in
the role of Special Operations, they automatically assume you’re interested in
treasure hunting?
    He
studied the picture for a couple of minutes.
    Gold
had never held any special interest forhim. After all, what was he
going to do with it? What piqued his interest was the story behind how the gold
came to be.
    He
then forwarded the image to Blake Symonds, a merchant banker in Venice. A
friend of his father’s, the man specialized in gold bullion and fine European
antiquities. If anyone knew about where the ingot had come from, it would be
him. With the photo attached, Sam asked the simple question, d o you know
whose emblem this is? He then drew a red arrow pointing to the G&O
impression.
    That
done, Sam climbed into his bunk and went to sleep, while Second Chance sailed on south toward Hell.
    *
    Tom
Bower was sitting in the dark hull of the Maria Helena, staring at his laptop. Despite
the powerful air conditioning, his face glistened with beads of sweat as he
examined the catastrophic low that was rapidly approaching the northeast coast
of Australia.
    He
had hazel brown eyes and a permanent smile, which best expressed his
happy-go-lucky attitude towards life. His dark, curly hair and olive complexion
suggested a Mediterranean ancestry, even though he was a third generation
American.  At six foot four, he was considered much too tall to be a pilot, and
even less suitable to the world of cave diving. At both of which, he was an
expert. At the age of twenty eight, Tom had already achieved more than most
people would achieve in a lifetime.
    His
general demeanor was relaxed, and he