American trawler 'Dianno'

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean,

3:48 a.m.

The night was a little chilly and foggy, but not very cold. Up in the forward cabin, Mathias Murphy M&M to his friends, was busy changing the ship's course to another heading. He was consulting the navigation charts and recording the shipping lanes. This far out in the ocean, he didn't want to encounter one of those newer 'supertankers'. Those ships were big as hell and had no problems running down smaller fishing ships such as this one. He'd once seen a ship that had been run over like a dog in the street by a supertanker. That ship had inadvertently plotted a course right in front of the supertanker, and the tanker had no idea that they were that close. 23 men had died, his younger brother David as well. He didn't want that to be his fate. And so when he handled the charts, he made sure that he mapped everything out to the T.

Up front at the steering controls, D.C. Kirk pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He put one in his mouth and flicked the lighter, then he looked back at Murphy. He shook the pack playfully. Murphy looked up.

"Yeah, I'll get one as soon as I finish plotting our course. Just lay 'em on the table over there." He went back to plotting.

Kirk just smiled, then he lightly tossed the pack of cigarettes on the table. "Hey, you remember to give me my lighter back too. I know how you are."

"Awww, fuck you. I'll keep your lighter if I want to. Probably throw the damn thing outta the window!"

"You do that, You'd better follow it!"

Both men broke out laughing. Despite the verbal jousting that always happened between them, the two were very good friends. Most of the time, their shifts ran concurrently, but every once in a while they would land bridge duty together.

Outside on the ship's upper deck, Capt. Jarred Hartford and his first mate, Roland Berr were also having enjoying a smoke session. Leaning against the railing, Capt. Hartford was staring out into the darkness of the ocean. Berr was leaning against an adjoining wall.

"Well, I heard that the prices were posted for salmon and tuna. Maybe we should make a run." Berr said.

Hartford laughed. "You also think that we should set out and find the lost continent of Atlantis."

Berr gave a very regretful look. He looked over at the captain.

"And you tell me what's wrong with that? Atlantis was just full of riches. Waiting to be reclaimed."

Capt. Hartford took one last pull on his cigarette, then flicked it out into the ocean. He smiled again.

"Buddy, you watch too much PBS." He motioned towards the forward cabin. "Let's go back and see what those two are up to."

Berr took a long drag on his cigarette, then he flicked his out into the ocean too. "Yeah, I hear they try to out do each other every chance they get...can't believe you left them on the bridge by themselves."

Capt. Hartford looked at Berr, then pointed at the forward cabin again. "Well, at least it's still standing."

They were starting up the stairs which led to the back of the forward cabin when Berr saw something. He tapped Hartford's shoulder. Hartford turned partially to look at him.

"What?"

Berr wasn't saying anything. He was facing the water, pointing up at the sky. Hartford looked up and saw what the man was staring at. Something was falling through the atmosphere. It wasn't very large, but it was big enough to leave a fiery trail across the dark night sky. It was then that Hartford realized that this object wasn't falling towards the ocean. It was falling straight towards them. With its speed, the object would rip a hole right through the hull and sink the ship.

Running to a nearby post, Hartford opened it and took out the small receiver that was contained inside. The bridge answered immediately. Hartford shouted into the phone.

"KIRK! ALL AHEAD FULL! YOU HEAR ME? ALL AHEAD FULL!"

Up on the bridge, Kirk grabbed the master throttle and threw it forward. With a surge of energy, the ship's engines cut in, moving the ship quickly through the waters. Hartford and Berr both grabbed onto the side railing to avoid being thrown overboard. And after about two minutes, the fiery object splashed down into the ocean, right where the ship had been.

Hartford grabbed the receiver again. Kirk immediately answered.

"Full stop. I repeat, Full stop."

As the ship slowed to a stop, Berr and Hartford kept their eyes on the point where the object had splashed down. Then Hartford looked over at Berr.

"Wake up the rest of the crew. I want to know what the hell that was. If the devil wants me, he'll have to get me himself!"

Berr ran down the deck stairs towards the crew compartments, and disappeared inside. Hartford could hear him banging on the doors, waking everyone up.

Hartford looked back out at the ocean. He was very mad.

"Sonofabitch." He grumbled.

Moments later, the entire crew were dressed and on deck. Berr stood beside the railing with Capt. Hartford, who was addressing the crew to the morning's events.

"And I ordered Kirk to move the ship. Now then, that's about it. But the reason why we're here is because I want to take a closer look at whatever the hell it was that almost sent us all to Davy Jone's locker. Who's with me?" All of the men onboard gave a shout of approval. Hartford looked at Berr.

"Let's do it then. Assign them." He went back up the stairs to the forward cabin. Berr looked at the men.

"Alright Jon, Elliot, Bernie, and Rico. You guys are going to go down and search. Everyone else will help haul it aboard the ship. Everyone ready? Then let's get to it!"

The four men went over the side in their diving suits, as everyone else rushed to their places. Berr went up to the bridge to report to the captain.

"I got four men down there looking for it. Hopefully, it hasn't moved from where it hit." Berr looked at Capt. Hartford. "What do you think it was?"

Capt. Hartford stared out of the window. "I don't know. But we'll find out when we drag it on the ship."

Herr looked at the captain. "Yes, sir."

Forty minutes later, Berr was on the radio, talking to one of the underwater divers. He had just finished logging the events in the ship's logs. He looked up as someone entered the room. Capt. Hartford. The captain motioned towards the radio.

"Did they find it yet?"

Berr switched the channel from the diver's to the crane outside. "Yes, they did. Captain, Rico said that we'll have to see it for ourselves. He won't tell me what it is. The others won't either. They've finished attaching the cables to it and are ready to haul it up."

Hartford looked out the window at the deck where the rest of the crew were standing by.

"Good. Bring it up." He said. Berr nodded and then spoke into the mic to the crane operator.

"Captain says to bring it up, Reno. Nice and easy, then set her on the deck." He switched the mic back to the diver's channel.

"Ok, Reno's taking it up. Stay out of the way down there guys. We don't want any accidents out here."

The divers all acknowledged by clicking their radios. Berr nodded. "Everything's good then."

Hartford walked out on the forward deck and leaned against the railing, watching as the chains from the crane slowly pulled the mystery object out of the water. Berr joined him on the deck. The two watched as the men on the lower decks eagerly watched and waited to get their first view of the object. Most of them probably thought it was a meteor or something.

What broke the surface thirty minutes later wasn't an meteor. It was made of metallic alloys and was very large. Hartford and Berr looked at each other as Reno, the crane operator, slowly guided the object down onto the deck of the ship. As soon as it touched the deck, one of the men turned around and looked up at the captain.

"Sir! I think you'd better take a look at this!" He started pointing at something on the side of the object. Harrtford and Berr both rushed down the stairs to the lower deck. As the men moved out of the way, Hartford realized what the object was. He walked forward slowly and knelt down beside it. Berr stood close by. Hartford looked back at Berr and motioned him to come forward. As Berr stepped forward, Hartford spoke.

"My god. This is a satellite. It's still active. What the hell?" He was clearly confused. Berr knelt down and looked at it.

It was indeed a satellite. Small, well built, and it looked very expensive. Berr looked at the captain and shrugged.

"Any salvage laws apply, captain?" He started smiling.

Hartford looked at him very seriously. He stood up.

"We can't salvage this. This thing looks practically brand new. Someone's gonna want it back. We'll turn this over to the authorities."

Berr looked down at the satellite. "Well the divers are back on board anyway. What do you want to do?"

Hartford wiped his forehead with his sleeve and looked out towards the ocean. He put another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He stood there and was silent for a moment, then he looked at Berr.

"Have the ship turned around. Whether we like it or not, we have to let someone know about this. Contact the Coast Guard. I want this thing off my ship." He turned and walked off. Berr watched him go. Then he knelt back down beside the satellite and took a closer look at it.

Right near his left foot was a sign that said :

CAUTION! RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS IN USE! HANDLE WITH CARE!

And below that sign was a smaller one which read:

ECHOSTAR 638 -904472 Serial Number: 667391210410602384960-122135

It was then that Berr realized why the captain wanted this satellite off of the ship. And at that moment, he readily agreed with him.