378 | John W. Warner IV megaliths covered in gold, black sand beaches, rivers.. .places of the distant past perhaps. For Stalins sake, think of someplace sunny with tropical fruit, rum, palms, and plenty of solid food. Think Tahiti, said Bea, avoiding an ice chunk. I hereby quit the war. Klemperer sat next to her. Agreed. All I want to do is climb mountains with my future children and eat fondue. Alice collapsed into Bernies arms, her palm still connected, eyes rolled to the back and quivering. Sun…trees.. .farms… Schafer held her head. Alice? Gott? A shrieking alarm sounded from the top of the Tellusorgan pipes; the astrolabe cast out a repetitive thrumming sound then pointed downwards and to the left, the arrow extending as if to make the direction clear. The yoke fell forward and to the left out of Beas hands. Its gone rogue. Hard to port and descending, powers up to fifty percent. She pulled hard. Its stuck! Christ, its on some sort of autopilot! Try harder! yelled Bernie. Its taken control of the helm. Klemperer tried to reduce throttle. The lever wont move! Muscles strained. Porsche helped him. Somethings gone horribly wrong here…maybe I fixed the wrong… Out the forward windows was a horrible sight. Bernie grabbed the railing. The icebergs are moving around us, its a whirlpool. Were dropping fast into a whirlpool! The rushing sound of raging water intensified like a hurricane. Vibration became strong. Swirls of light green energized water currents encompassed the ship with flashes of lightning. Gwafa came on from the generator room. X Whats happening up there, Madame? Gerlach could be heard yelling in the background. Despite the protection of the electrobubble and the power of the maneuvering nodes, the Bear twirled helplessly in the huge whirlpool as the lights and power suddenly went off. A battery-powered alarm klaxon went off and harsh G-forces became evident for the first time. Bea could feel herself slowly passing out as a strange sound emerged from the hatchway; Stew and Lew were welcoming their inevitable collective death with laughter.