Torpedo Logic

There was only one way out.
And we would have to make it work.

Beneath the ocean waves, beneath the deep,
within our submarine, we make our sweep.
And when we’re deep enough, the sea is night;
then canyon walls come crashing down on us, and hold us tight!

It is a major slide, of mud and stone;
the mountains ‘neath the sea, are Earth-slide prone.
And though we aren’t too deep, we’re deep enough;
it forces us onto a narrow shelf, and we land rough.

“We must go aft now men,” says Captain Ned,
“because of  the debris, upon our head.”
“And like torpedoes shot, right from the ship,
we’ll utilize torpedo tubes in front, to make our slip!”

So we grab oxygen and scuba gear;
the deep throws rocks on us, or so we hear.
It crushes periscope and radio;
perhaps there’s naval rescue ships above, as we’re below.

In the torpedo room, we stop to see,
if egress through the tubes, is debris-free.
So Captain Ned decides to fire one;
and it accelerates into the deep--our test is done!

But a torpedo tube, requires tact;
if careless, you are dead, and that’s a fact.
One door is in the ship, while one’s outside;
you want to keep the power of the sea, on your good side.

The time has come for us to start our plan;
and time has also come, for strength of man.
We turn the pressure down, to ease the shock;
the first brave sailor whooshes to the sea, from that airlock.

In most survival bids, the facts are cold;
and there are hero’s tales, yet some aren’t told.
So one last man was left, to bide the boat;
for once you are inside that hollow tube, there’s no remote.

We all are rescued now, except for Ron;
our blood has nitrogen, but bends* move on.
And to our fallen mate, who bravely stayed,
your sacrifice will always be a float, in life’s parade.

There was only one way out,
and that was the way we made it work.


40 Lines

*Breathing gas under pressure can present a myriad of possible medical problems.
One of these is decompression sickness or "the bends," caused by breathing nitrogen
or other gases under pressure, which are not metabolized by the body.