14
‘STAND BY TO SURFACE!’
They were at Diving Stations again: apart from the for’ard hydroplanes being in emergency control, and Crawshaw having a long strip of sticking-plaster on his forehead, there were no signs of the recent disturbances. The only thing that made the scene in the Control Room slightly odd, out of routine, was that several more men had shaved in the last half hour, and now such a high proportion of the crew had smooth, clean chins that the ones who had not yet come to terms with razors and hot water were as conspicuous as tramps in a first-class railway carriage.
Olsen leant with his shoulder against the glass face of the Fruit Machine, watching and listening as the reports came in, preparatory to the act of surfacing: vents shut, blows open... Olsen felt a pleasurab
