The captain was a man of unassuming appearance who could have passed for an Ivy League college professor. A nuclear engineer by training, Logan had commanded surface ships before being assigned as the officer in charge of the NR-1. He was of medium height and build, with thinning blond hair and a slight fleshiness around the jaw. The navy had long ago dispensed with the rawboned John Wayne type who ran a ship by the seat of his pants. With computerized firing controls, laser guidance and smart missiles, navy vessels were too complicated and expensive to entrust to cowboys. Logan had a sharp mind and the ability to make a lightning-quick analysis of the most complex technical problem.

His previous commands had been much bigger, yet none came close to the NR-1 in the sophistication of her electronics. Although the boat had been built in 1969, she was constantly upgraded. Despite her cutting edge technology, the sub still used some older but time-tested techniques. A thick twelve-hundred-foot towline ran from the support vessel's deck to a large metal ball clutched by metal jaws on the submarine's bow.

Logan gave the order to release the towrope, then he turned to a thickset bearded man in his fifties and said, “Welcome aboard the smallest nuclear submarine in the world, Dr. Pulaski. Sorry we don't have more elbowroom. The shielding for the nuclear reactor takes up most of the sub. My guess is that you'd prefer claustrophobia to radiation. I assume you've had a tour.”

Pulaski smiled. “Yes, I've been checked out on the proper procedure for using the head.” He spoke with a slight accent.

“You might have to stand in line, so I'd go easy on the coffee. We've got a ten-man crew, and our facilities can get busy.”

“I understand you can stay submerged for up to days,” Pulaski said. “I can't imagine what it must be like sitting on the bottom a half-mile down for that length of time.”

“I'd be the first to admit that even the simplest task, such as taking a shower or cooking a meal, can be a challenge,” Logan said. “Luckily for you, we'll only be down a few hours.” He glanced at his watch. “We'll descend one hundred feet to make sure all systems are working. If everything checks out, we'll dive.”

Logan stepped through a short passageway slightly wider than his shoulders and indicated a small padded platform behind the two chairs in the control station. “That's normally where I sit during operations. It's all yours today. I'll take the copilot's seat. You've met Dr. Pulaski,” he said to the pilot. “He's a marine archaeologist from the University of North Carolina.”