by Robert Lyon
The night game of playing hide and seek seemed to have sexual promise tonight until frustration set in. The cool air relieved everyone of great distress and gave a reprieve to lose collapsing due to the lack of food and water, but the second wind they achieved was their one last chance to get back on the ball and claim their own survival from nature. Atrisia yelled into the crowd of people working on starting a fire, “You Tennessee boy scouts should know how to start a fire!” Dipree responded,
“Then don’t look at me I’m from New York.” Everyone looked over at Dipree and Atrisia said, “That’s exactly what I am talking about…New York. I’m dead serious when I say,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia …you damn guys should absolutely know how to do this!” Linscoe asked, “What about you?” Atrisia replied, “I’m a girl.” Ens. Swishzel back from his
swim coughed out the phrase, “Thank you for pointing that out.”
Athena said, “Well you can’t do those things either!” Atrisia said, “I’m being honest…and honestly I don’t even know what those things are.” Haydel laughed and said, “Then you’ll probably find out tonight.” Chief Casius said, “I can’t believe that you would even suggest that under these circumstances.”
The sun had gone down and the moonlight was not yet casting its bright blue light over the beach. I sat on the ridge with the vase of water sitting next to me; I heard their yelling and saw their demeanor. I hadn’t seen them this overtly hostile since the end of the long beach ship yard period and escorts were required, no one was to be alone in a space or passageway; there had to be a witness. Once they started throwing sand at each other I realized they were just gone, no longer mentally present. I carried the water vase out in the sand and piled sand up around it preventing it from being knocked over and still had the reed straw in it. Then I hunched down and moved across the sand cat burglar style, I needed to pull a work crew out of there.
I fetched Hackel, Elper, Williams, and Gruble. I sneaked up to
Mitch and whispered in his ear, “Water ration.” Mitch swatted in my direction like he was trying to hit a fly and said, “Rob…wait what?” I pulled him over to the vase. I said, “Don’t take too much we have to make another boiler.” I rushed low against the sand and tripped over Tommi Gruble. She asked, “Are you alright?” I said, “Just who I was looking for.” She replied,
“You’re not my type Lyon.” I laughed and said, “We’ve got work.” and I pulled her over to the vase. As she drank Mitch asked, “Where’s the boiler Rob?” I replied, “Hold on we need a couple more.” Mitch asked, “Luds and Marcy?” I said, “No they were flying an imaginary kite with chief Dotz” I slipped over to
Williams and whispered in her ear, “We’ve got work, come get
water rations” She crawled over to the vase with me as well and asked, “How many?” I said we only have about two gallons for all of us but we have to make more and build three more boilers.” She asked startled, “Boilers!?” I replied, “Well, more of a still really” finally I fetched Elper; he was still trying to start a fire now banging a rock against a stick that had the last piece of flint embedded in it. I said, “Elper, give that to someone else and come with me.” He passed it over to Rich and he and I slipped over to the vase. After they all drank we slipped over to the ridge just as everyone’s eyes were adjusting to the moon light and headed over to the boilers.
Once we got there Elper said, “Ya, that’s more of a still than a boiler Lyon.” Athena asked “what do I do?” Gruble said,
“I don’t know either.” I said, “We need to build another lattice and form the bricks and bowls and cook another ‘still’” Gruble said, “I’ll get some wood” Williams said, “I’ll help her…are we doing this in the dark?” I replied, “It’s cooler that way and we’ll build a shelter in the morning, there are reeds over there.” Elper stood with his hands on his hips looking at it and asked, “And, it’s running right now?” I said, “Ya, the steam condenses in the spout dripping down into that vase.” Elper said,
“Okay…where’s the clay?” I said, “Up on that hillside.” pointing toward the hill. Elper walked off in that direct Mitch shrugged at me and followed him saying, “I’m coming with you mike” I watched them walk off on their tasks and felt strangely alone. I decided I should start making a fishing net and started collecting fallen palms from the palm trees. Athena dropped off a pile of wood and asked, “I thought the lean-to was tomorrow?”
I said, “I’m pulling out these fibers and winding them, we need a fishing net…we’ll use the reeds to make a cabana tomorrow.”
she looked stunned and said, “Cabana…Okay.” and went back to gathering wood.
MR2 Micheal Milano saw what he thought was me carrying a large stone in to the beach from the brush line then burring it up to its neck and having people come over and kiss it then took them into the brush. After we left he investigated, once he realized they were drink water through a straw he tried it discovering it was fresh water. He glanced around and realized there wasn’t enough, but we had left it behind so we must have been fetching more water. He looked around and saw Jenifer
Hennely scratching Dave Riles back as Riles whimpered to sleep so he walked up and spoke to her after sitting next to her.
Micheal said, “Lyon just came out of those bushes with a rock he buried over there and had Williams, Hackle, Elper, and
Tommi kiss it.” and then he laughed. Jennifer said, “Everyone’s gone crazy.” Michael added, “Ya, so I went and looked at it and decide I’d kiss it to.” Jennifer said, “They’ll find us soon, just hold on.” Micheal said, “There’s more to it, we need to do what they did. Come on.” Jennifer glanced at Riles sleeping and back to Michael and said, “Okay” As they headed over there Michael said in a hushed voice, “There just isn’t enough yet” He and
Jennifer kneeled at the vase and Jennifer gasped and slapped
Michaels arm, so he nudged her down and put the reed in her mouth and she sucked up some water. After she took some long swallows she looked up at him and asked in a hushed voice,
“Okay, what the hell are we doing?” Michael replied quietly, “I don’t know where they’re getting it but they went through there…and your right everyone is crazy right now so they’re doing it like this. Let’s find them.” Jennifer said, “Okay, you saw them lead the way.” and they headed through the brush.
They stopped at the clearing and tasted the water there and spit it
out, Michael said, “This is just more sea water.” and they moved further down the path toward us.
Captain Artimus emerged from a shadow near the pentagon and called out, “Listen up. We’ve got some things that have to get done. Someone here will be successful in starting a campfire.
You’ve all had a good rest since our swim, and we have to get things going, so speak amongst yourselves and find me a team that can focus on getting us a camp fire.” The crowd looked around and there in the moonlight it was still easy enough to tell who was alert with their wits about them and who lay unconscious or was stumbling around with no sense of where they were.
The captain went around asking for other volunteers, he needed the pentagon fortified. Artimus said, “The walls have to go up. It may seem like trivial work, but when everyone notices me seeing an outrageous display of anger or resentment they expect me to respond. And when I don’t it establishes that behavior as legitimate conduct. Despite our situation I am still your captain and I have seen evidence of that throughout our time here, what was pointed out earlier regarding the fate of our ship, has not detracted from my social station. I will say I myself find the unsettling, get my walls built and I will continue to be what you expect me to be and are just plain demanding I be with your conduct.”
Chief Brosuer said, “You heard the captain, I think we will overlook the outbursts we heard earlier, but in one case it was true enough. She is a female…a girl, and some of you just by your upbringing should absolutely know how to start a campfire.<
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Pull yourselves together!”
Captain Artimus stepped to the side of chief Brosuer and quietly asked, “What did I just say…?” Chief Brosuer replied,
“We’re getting that team together sir.” Artimus replied, “I said I was still the captain, I do the talking around here and you just follow my instructions.” Brosuer retorted, “Am I not still a chief sir?” Artimus performed a calm down hand gesture and said, “Yes your still a chief.” Brosuer interjected, “Then I should do what chief’s do, even now as I am nearly speaking over you…this is what chiefs do.” Artimus sighed and said, “You don’t understand the pressure I am actually under, many of these sailors are still very much young men and women, and they expect that I would just have the answer.” Brosuer responded,
“As do I sir.” Artimus felt an argument coming on so he looked behind himself rubbed his chin as though he were in deep contemplation and replied, “That’s why I need you to play your part chief…just your part, let me worry about the rest because I have people for that too.” and he strolled back to his lean-to in the pentagon.
ET1 Sherri Specklavia looked over at the chiefs she was sitting with further east down the beach and said, “Okay, he’s taking this pentagon analogy way too far.” Senior Chief Fuay replied, “Maybe if we build him his walls he’ll just stay in there.” then he got up and started pulling the loose brush out of the brush line. Tim brock and Tammi Melad noticed their chief working at gathering materials for the walls and started pulling loose branches and such themselves. Tim said, “I feel like a beaver trying to build a dam.” Tom Norrie was just behind him gathering materials himself and replied, “Damn good thing.”
Mr. Lees sat huffing at the horizon, EM3 Huble called over to him, “stop crying.” But he wasn’t crying he was having trouble breathing and collapsed. Bruce Deck was nearby and saw this with a chuckle he walked up and asked, “Are you alright.” and even in the moonlight Bruce could tell the answer was ‘no’ On
an impulse not wanting to watch his friends heart fail from dehydration he walked away at a hurried pace as if running away from the emotional swell that was over coming him. As he fled he tripped over the vase buried in the sand and heard a sloshing sound. He looked into it but only saw darkness, but he smelled water he reached in and was startled by the reed which he then pulled out; noticing it was wet he sniffed at the reed and tasted the water. Realizing it was fresh water he sucked the reed and realized it was very much like a straw he sucked some water through it and swallowed, then suck some more into it and used his finger to block the end and lifted it out and blocked that end as well and ran it over to Roger Lees and by removing his finger from the ends he released the contents of the reed into Lees mouth. Roger gasped and contorted as the water went down and he gasped out “more, more.” Bruce hauled Roger over to the vase and he sipped through the straw, pausing briefly to ask, “Is this all we have?” Bruce replied, “I don’t even know where this came from I tripped over it.” Roger replied, “I just need a little more…I’ll leave some, I think Mormus died.”
Bruce rushed over to Mormus and he was snoring, so
Bruce walked back, and checked for the level of the water by reaching in. His fingers went down about an inch and a half, but the vase was fairly narrow and that was likely only a couple of cups. Roger said, “How much more is there?” Bruce replied,
“Maybe two cups…you aren’t going to die are you?” Roger replied, “No…I think it was just something in my throat and my heart was palpitating. Roger laid there on his back while Bruce ran triage on dehydration victims, despite the week on the water no one was too near death. Bruce figured it was likely the cold that kept them from dehydration all that time, but now it was hot dry land. As Bruce walked around in the moon light, selecting
people to get some water a cloud passed over the moon and it became pitch black so he sat down nearly completely blind and waited. After about two minutes Bruce yelled out as loud as he could, “Who ever brought us the water, we need light too!”
Usually the noise from over there only became a low roar and I couldn’t make it out unless I was all the way over by the ridge but that I heard. I glanced over in that direction and
Jennifer and Michael stepped through the brush. Michael looked at me sitting there winding plant fibers and said, “Do you have fire Lyon” I replied, “Ya…I’ll take them a torch.” Jennifer asked, “Where’d the water come from?” I replied, “I made a boiler; Gruble, Williams, Hackel, and Elper are gathering the materials to make three more, their getting the clay now.”
Michael asked, “What’s that for?” pointing at the half made string. I responded, “Fishing net. You guys take this over and
I’ll get them a torch”
As I got up the stiffness in my legs slowed me down and I stumbled a little to the boiler, Michael said, “You’re not drunk are you?” I responded, “I wish.” I grabbed a piece of wood and lite it in the boiler and checked the vase, it was full enough to carry over so I placed one of the deep cups to catch the rest of the water and placed a palm over it to ensure no loss of any steam. Michael and Jennifer sat down and did what they saw me doing, winding white silky plant fiber into a string, and I carried another vase and a torch over to the landing.
Hackel and Elper were carrying clay bricks down to the trench while Williams and Gruble were making them. Elper asked, “Where’d you guys come from?” Michael responded,
“We found the water.” Elper responded, “Okay, Okay” as he nodded his head in disapproval as though his plans had been destroyed. Hackel and Elper finished the new lattice and placed
the bricks on it just as Williams and Gruble came down with the bottome bowl. Williams said, “We finished the bowl.” Hackel blurted out, “down drop it, there are things you might not see in the dark.” Williams laughed and said, “No we saw you peeing up there.” Gruble added, “You aren’t that black Mitch.” and they laughed as Mitch sucked air through his teeth with his tongue making a reverse hissing sound.
I came up over the ridge and found a struggling dog pile near the vase, with the other vase in one hand and a fairly well fashioned torch on the other I stood there. They all stopped their fighting and froze while looking at me. My face lite by a full flickering flame, they were stunned. Atrisia took a one kneed position like a high school wrestler and reached back to her hip, then gestured with a stop hand motion and said, “Don’t you move…don’t you fucking move a muscle.” and she kept repeating it. I knew she wasn’t armed but had no idea what her mental state was, so I slowly walked out and set down the vase and stabilized it with a mound of sand around it. I looked through the stunned crowd and recognized EN2 John Hefen I said, “Hefen…and only Hefen, come take this torch.” John walked up and took the torch and asked, “Now what?” I replied,
“start a camp fire but don’t overdo it, you don’t need a bonfire.” and I backed out and again Atrisia started repeating, “Don’t fucking move…No, Don’t fucking move.”
And I backed out of there disgusted. Heading back to the boiler, I pushed through the brush and realized the line between the good and the lazy had just turned into a battle front.
The Captain tried to follow me yelling, “Do you want them to turn cannibal!!?” I yelled back, “We’re just now making the fishing net! They are all delirious, just keep them contained!”
GSM 1Matt Hidale had followed the captain and yelled at me,
“Fuck you!” The captain tried to calm him and usher him back to the landing. Matt and Tom Norrie were both there feeling betrayed, they had worked with me, they were immediate supervisors and I was the one that broke away and started making the water…they were now dependent on my efforts being successful, which as an E-4 front line supervisor there was really nothing new about that, the labor belonged to the E-4 and below, delegation started at E-5 and at E-6 they were basically foreman.
Once I got back Michael and Jennifer looked at me, and with a laugh Jennifer asked me, “How’d that go?�
�� I looked at Michael and replied, “They can’t be trusted until they are feed and rehydrated.” Michael replied, “Why do you think we came over here…” I went over and saw the trench fire was lite and the bricks and lower half were being burnt. Hackel said, “The other two are getting the top half and vases made. How we lookin?” I said, “Looks good, it’s going bad over there though. We’ll need a log and a spear to go with the fishing net and we’re going to need food soon, they were ready to attack and Artimus yelled out asking me ‘if I wanted them to go cannibal’.” Mitch and
Mike were stunned. I added, “Well, I’m off to find something that floats…”
At the landing being in the moon light after nearly a week on the ocean floating on their backs, their vision was fairly uninhibited. They sat around the fire they had set near the vase and at their pentagon as well, the captain paced around the perimeter of the pentagon and the other survivors either slept or huddled up with each other seeking reassurance. The captain was anxious, Lyon had responded to his objection with, ‘we’re making a fishing net now.’ the captain understood now he was in denial he couldn’t produce any rhetoric about how rescue was
coming soon because he himself wouldn’t accept the lies. Those that were capable of creating fire and using it to distill water had set their own course of action that seemed to be based on the premise ‘no rescue is coming’; they had proved their intellect by starting to thrive, his intellect however was called into question by his lack of ability to thrive. He had to regain himself, the walls for his pentagon were incomplete and come morning he would reestablish himself as the leader by setting those wall in place.
It was likely four o’clock in the morning when all the sailors at the landing fell asleep, all huddled together. The temperature seemed to change rapidly, but then I was a southern