The Sleeping Army Awakes

Part 45 Pedalling the fish

Resplendent in their carp shaped submarine, Bláznivý Marek and Slepý Bobek were, as yet, totally oblivious of the impending cataclysm that Count Mikula was perpetrating on Milosti Kopce. If successful then the explosions would unleash millions of litres of water from the reservoir, half way up the hill, and that would flow down to the lake in torrents, making the lake a very unsafe place to test a prototype submarine.

Bláznivý Marek and Slepý Bobek weren't even enjoying either their birthday present or their scientific achievement as much as they had expected. Pedalling was far more tiring than they had anticipated. They had got the gear ratio of the pedals to the tail incorrect and so they were making slower progress through the water than they had hoped. 

The tail fin had moved very smoothly enough  in free air all the time that the sub had been on dry land but they hadn't factored in the extra resistance of the water. Now the drive chain creaked and groaned, and the pedals were to much harder to move. The mechanism was far noisier in the cramped space than they had bargained for and Slepy Bobek suspected that there was something that they hadn't lubricated that they should have. And the final straw was that every few minutes Bláznivý Marek sneezed all the way down his brothers back.

"Can't you put your hand in front of your mouth when you have to do that you bullock?" Slepý Bobek asked.

"It was you bullock!" Bláznivý Marek lied.

"Then why is my back soaking wet?"Slepý Bobek asked.

"Just keep pedalling you bullock less complaining!"Bláznivý Marek commanded.

"I can't see where we are going you Bullock. We should have made windows bigger!" Slepý Bobek complained. He could see very little through the rather small windows at the best of times, but they had stirred up the mud from the face of an occasional curious carp.

"But bigger eyes would not look realistic!" Bláznivý Marek complained. "Take off stupid eye patch and you will see better!"

"And five metre long steel fish looks realistic to you?" Slepý Bobek asked.

"Will just look like extra big granddaddy carp." Bláznivý Marek said.

"But why cannot extra big granddaddy carp have extra big eyes?" Slepý Bobek asked.

"Because!" Bláznivý Marek complained. "it would look like clown fish not carp!"

"Simply for all I know we are going in circles you bullock." Slepý Bobek said. "We never did calibrate fins yet."

"Well simply stand up and look out of hatch you bullock." Bláznivý Marek said, "We are still on surface."

Slepý Bobek stood up and the whole sub lurched from side to side. Bláznivý Marek nearly fell off his saddle.

"Sit down you bullock!" Bláznivý Marek said, "You are rocking Fish-sub."

"You tell me to stand up you bullock!" Slepý Bobek

"That was before you were rocking Fish-sub!"Bláznivý Marek complained,

"Is difficult to balance!" Slepý Bobek said.