The crane carefully moved the huge container with the words “Canada Drive Systems” stencilled on it across the deck of the old Great Lakes freighter toward the open engine hatch. The container looked small compared to the hatch. The crane parked it on the deck beside the hatch, and then went back to lifting out the original ship’s engines in pieces.
The ship was a mess. Junk lay everywhere. Signs of massive damage were everywhere. It was almost as if the ship had rolled over on its side.
Men and women worked with a clear sense of organization, clearing the junk off the ship and into containers on the dockside. Trucks removed the filled containers, and replaced them with empty ones.
In a trailer set up as on office on the dockside, two men stared at a computer screen. The younger one had a scraggly brown mustache and a grubby tee-shirt with the words “Thieves Do It In The Dark” stenciled on the chest in fluorescent lime green. He pointed at the CAD drawing on screen. “If we install the Merrill Power Plant here, it will be centrally located. We can then run power lines through the ship to the AVRO unit. I think that’s the most important thing to do. I don’t want to leave the container on deck. I know Canada Drive Systems says it’s weather and space proof. I’m just paranoid.”
The tubby older man, wearing an elbow patched suit jacket nodded. “I want things out of sight. There’s too much chance that someone might notice something. They don’t need to understand what they see, if they blog it.” He stroked his greying beard. “Time. Time is our enemy.”
The younger one looked out the window. “Our other problem is that the crew doesn’t have a damned clue what they are doing. We just don’t have enough people who are trained in the technology, and are loyal enough. We have four more ships coming in for overhaul, never mind the destroyer, which will be a real nasty bitch to work on. You promised me more people. Where are they Everett?”
“Careful Timmy, keep the voice down. The sound insulation on the trailer is as good as we could make it, but I wouldn’t trust it.” Everett clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing the small office space.
“As you said, time is the problem. We weren’t supposed to have to do this until next year. Things on the other side of the border are getting really bad, that’s why we are rushing things. It’s possible that their government could melt down sooner than we expected, and if it does anything could happen. So we need to get the ships up and running a year early, and we have to do it in total secrecy.”
There was a wry smile on his face. “Do you know how hard it is to recruit staff under conditions like this?”
Timmy nodded. “I know. But you’ve given me a job that I don’t think I can successfully complete. You need to know that now. If I don’t have reliable help here within the week this job could go to hell, and if it goes to hell the Americans will know something is going on.”
“In your opinion this overhaul is reaching a critical stage then,” asked Everett?
Timmy pointed out the window at the bow of the ship, where a layer of heavy paint was starting to flake off, exposing the letters ‘Edmu.’
“Everett, if the rest of that paint peels off showing the name of this ship, all hell will break loose. And we won’t be able to stop it.”
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