Australia’s American-built, nuclear subs arrived in 2049 and were deployed almost immediately on an extended, secret mission. In fact, they were kept ‘off the surface’ for fifteen months, moving surreptitiously around the Pacific, poking around the kelp forests of the South China Sea, around Hawaii, Japan, New Zealand, looking, sampling, forever on the move.
But the crew were tired, cranky – they all needed a surface break; sunshine and the sky, to see the horizon, to feel a breeze! Arguments were breaking out regularly, things were tense. They also needed to know the actual rationale behind their extended voyage!
“Senile, indeed! I’ll have you know that there is absolutely nothing amiss. The results reflect the agreed methodology.” Captain, Dr Ahab stormed out of the lab, slamming the bulkhead door as he left. The crew shuffled, uncomfortably.
“Mmm, that went well”, observed Ishmael, to nobody in particular, moving across the pod, picking up the interim report, scanning the pages. “I think he’s right. We might still need a bit of tinkering, but we’re on target. Stubb, maybe you and Starbuck could run those seaweed analyses again – keep looking for that tell-tale oxidatic marker.” Ishmael went in search of the captain.
The League of Governments had confirmed Nori’s adrenal-thyroid oxidative (NATO) properties from analysis of a small sample washed up on Bruny Island, two years earlier. It demonstrated a capacity to counter the ‘new normal’, the devastating, post-pandemic lethargy that had settled over the planet.
But finding sufficient Nori was proving to be the contemporary ‘Golden Fleece’. The race was on, nation against nation, scouring the depths in the hope of finding the ‘mother-lode’. Synthesizing and cornering production would be a world-beater!
The oceans were awash with submariners and on more than one occasion, HMAS Matilda had had close encounters with other vessels. They thought they had cracked it a few months earlier – near what had been Tuvalu. The drowned nations of Kiribati and Nauru had offered similar, false excitement.
Meantime, Ahab and Ishmael were in the Command module. They had agreed it was time to unpack the secret statement, sealed, and safely secured in the small safe. But the door had jammed. They sprayed the hinges, inserted screwdrivers, swore: all to no avail. Another squirt of WD 40, a shared bar of chocolate, and they waited.
The lubricant eventually worked and the tiny hinges creaked open. The safe had a single sheet of paper with the words, writ large ‘FIND AND SECURE NORI – Make Australia Great Again!’
Unknown to Matilda’s crew, both Tonga and Timor Leste had both found quantities on their beaches and their laboratories, with Indian financial backing, had achieved a synthetic form.
Matilda kept searching the ocean’s depths!