New Homeport Island Part 6

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 s.h.i.+p yard period and escorts were required, no one was to be alone in a s.p.a.ce or pa.s.sageway; 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 pa.s.sed 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 h.e.l.l 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 s.h.i.+p, 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.

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 a.n.a.logy 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, "d.a.m.n 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 slos.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.sed 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, "Fis.h.i.+ng 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 fas.h.i.+oned 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 f.u.c.king 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 f.u.c.king move...No, Don't f.u.c.king 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 fis.h.i.+ng net! They are all delirious, just keep them contained!"

GSM 1Matt Hidale had followed the captain and yelled at me, "f.u.c.k 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 fis.h.i.+ng 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 rea.s.surance. The captain was anxious, Lyon had responded to his objection with, 'we're making a fis.h.i.+ng 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 California and had plenty of time on the beach under my belt and I was very accustom to that it seemed only in summer did the temperature stay somewhat predictable. Dave Artimus the one time captain slept near the fire at the center of his pentagon, he had fallen asleep sitting and watching the fire with other survivors he had a trust of from their former jobs he had slumped over and rested his head on the shoulder of Mess specialist Robert Wildly and in his sleep had been dreaming of his wife, so he placed his arms around MS3 Wildly and slept in comfort.

The fire in the trench with us at the boiler site was burning hardening more clay components and the fire in the firebox still burned as well boiling the water of to steam which traveled down the neck of the spout and condensed to fresh water which the dripped and occasionally poured down into a vase. We gave way to sleep as well Tommi and Jennifer slept back to back, Michael, Mitch, and Mike slept in a triangle formation and I slept at Tommi and Jennifer's feet.

In my sleep my eyes had opened during a dream and I heard music, I watched the moon sail through the sky as though it were the sea. The stars formed constellations with lines connecting the dots. And choirs sung of island paradises and civilizations lost. There was the smell of cinnamon in the air, and colorful leaves and flowers drifted on the breeze. The moonlight shown on the surface of the sea like a road to a happier past, and as I stepped upon that road the seas rose up and swallowed me and I drifted down into purple shadows and a ringing in my ears. I woke up gasping for breath, confused and panicked. I sat up and saw the fire still burned in the firebox and the trench fire still had a glow, there was dirt on my throat and dirt on Jennifer's feet, I figured she must have kicked me in the neck, and having three younger sisters it didn't surprise me at all so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Jennifer began to toss and turn as she dreamt of a giant sea turtle cras.h.i.+ng through the waves moaning like a whale, she stood in a small Indonesian village with young girls. She was dressed in a sarong, with a red and white floral print that included in its design a decorative bridge silhouette. The young girls watched the wave cras.h.i.+ng up and around the tortoisesh.e.l.l their village had been built upon and where they had lived since the great wave took their ancestors homes away. As Jennifer looked at the well in the center of the village and wondered how a well could possibly be there, the girls began a hypnotizing dance, the beads around the ankles shook like a rattle and a string of Chinese coins around their wastes jingled like tambourines. The young Indonesian girls wore the long hair up with a twist and a comb pressed in to hold their hair towered atop their heads. Some wore light blue veils a crossed their faces and they spun as the danced and angled the heels and ankles as they pointed their toes up heel to the ground and crossed their arms over their chests and positioned their hands as though they were pus.h.i.+ng away walls. They danced in perfect unison and Jennifer delighted at their performance.

A man in a dark hood with a dark scarf acrossed his face, holding a folding fan in each hand, concealed himself behind the two fans and fluttered them making the sounds of wings, he opened and closed them in a mesmerizing pace and with them both closed brought them together and taped them together just above her head, with that, there in her dream she laid down and went to sleep.

Athena began talking in her sleep, she was dreaming she was a princess of an out skirting kingdom, she wear a corset and rough lace, and a dress with so many petticoats she could only kneel to rest her legs. Should she try and sit she would fall over. The rug in her castle was black with golden inlay and burgundy trim. Men dressed much as cardinals of the Catholic Church leered at her l.u.s.tfully and her garter seemed to tickle and tighten as did her corset. She feared her corset would rip open revealing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the men in red. She carried a porcelain pitcher to fill a was.h.i.+ng bowl to appear busy and unaware of their l.u.s.tful gaze and she took a handkerchief from between her full and sweaty b.r.e.a.s.t.s and used the water in the bowl to moisten her face. She glanced around and the men starred at her heaving breast so she moistened the cloth again and wet her lips, then used it to cool her inner thigh by reaching up and under her dress and all the petticoats she had to lift and hold. She gently pated at her inner thighs which glistened with a perfumed perspiration, and gently tugged at her garter on her upper thigh which had a strap leading down to her opaque white toeless stocking. The men stood very close now and she noticed her pedicure was red nail polish; she then surrendered to the moment. She tugged down her corset revealing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and erect tan nipples, the foot she had placed in the seat of a chair to adjust her garter angled at the h.e.l.l as she swung wide that leg to release her heat and arched her back gathering her hair in both hands to tie it up with red silken ribbon.

The sound of soft moaning woke me up just before Jennifer kicked me in the throat again. I got up and looked at the moon and down at the fire box and the fire was failing, so I looked in the vase and it was full so I set it aside and let the fire die. I thought I'd never get back to sleep, but I looked down just as Athena was issuing more moans and watched her caress herself which brought me an odd sense of wellbeing so I lied down beside her and fell right to sleep again.

At the landing Artimus too was awake he stepped out of the pentagon and strolled over to where Mormus was sleeping, he had slept for nearly two days. Artimus kneeled down beside him and sighed; he choked up and rubbed at his eyes. Robert Wildly stepped up and kneeled next to Dave and took his hand, it was still relatively dark and the captain looked up to the dark sky dismayed as to why anyone would stroll up and take his hand, as rage began to well up in him he coughed out a sigh, but the heard Robert starting to pray. A sense of relief washed over captain Artimus and upon the word 'amen' Dave reached around Robert and gave him a hug. Robert said in a hush, "He'll be okay, just needs rest."

Dave had been the captain of that destroyer and he knew what the situation called for, just a.s.sert a little self- delusion and once the context has changed in your mind it will be manageable, but you have to bring your subordinates up with you or they will shatter your illusion and all manner of nightmare will become true, but he couldn't stomach it. It had all been bitter for too long, nearly a week on the ocean, without so much as a floatation device, from a sunken U.S. Navy destroyer; Impossibility upon impossibility he wasn't even sure they were actually alive. The alternative however was h.e.l.l, thirst, hunger, and s.h.i.+pmates dyeing of exposure or dehydration and even what seemed to be forgetting to breath under the strain of fatigue...they just forgot to breath.

Dave thought back to the outright hara.s.sments he had practiced in order to find the s.h.i.+ps first 'five point oh' sailor, the things he had done to encourage the subordinates to believe their immediate superior was always correct which was a task that only rose to his level when they were in fact wrong, molesting the s.h.i.+p in order to provoke a measurable event for chief petty officer performance evaluations under the heading of cultural diversity, that being encouraging the racists to believe they shared a view with their superiors that due to rank and station could not admit it. His list went on, now he was tired and defeated but it was anything but a quick death. Some deserter in his crew fled the camp site and is now delivering water rations and is working on a fis.h.i.+ng net, while the n.o.ble captain watches his crew die apparently out of a failure of leaders.h.i.+p, or simply having given up. The conversations he had with the corpsman concluded this crew could survive drinking sea water for two weeks, though some would need to drink urine as it is less saline. But, their spirits are failing them as their captain mourns a past out of his control and the ranks are beyond restless and disheveled, they are becoming animalistic and the captain is fighting his urge to just become a hunter of such animals.

Charlie Mcree lie beside Hauldbalm "the ghost" she looked up from her rest and once again removed his hand from her breast, she looked over and saw Artimus and Wildly kneeling together. She asked the master chief, "Hey, what are they doing?" Hauldbalm just grumbled in his sleep, so Charlie grabbed a hold of his crotch to wake him. Hauldbalm instantly woke and said, "About G.o.d d.a.m.n time" Charlie smacked his shoulder and pointed at the Captain and Wildy and asked again, "What are they doing?" Hauldbalm straightened his gla.s.ses and looked, he asked, "What did you see them do?" Charlie replied, "Their over there kneeling by the X.O." Hauldbalm sat up some more beside her and watched a little, then put his arm around her and said, "Honey we need to sleep, they're having a seance. I know that probably breaks your heart but I've got you." Charlie scoffed and looked at him and realized the biggest smile she had had on her face in three years was right then, and she replied, "Huh...you do, you really do." Hauldbalm tapped her nose and said, "Yes I do" he leaned in and kissed her and pulled her to him. As she snuggled into his chest she laughed and said, "ahaha, I'm only twenty four you cradle robber." and as he began to choke with doubt she gave him a long slow deep kiss and welcomed his hand back to her breast.

Over the island hung a long streak of stratus cloud and if that cloud had a mind and eyes it would have seen the new allegiances and rivalries forming that night. Old political arguments and conflicting leaders.h.i.+p still on the back burner and new problems of being lost and somehow more significantly was the sense of feeling lost. As a sailor being lost is nearly inconsequential, feeling lost however was an invitation to disaster. From above would be seen the huddled crowds had stabilized, no more games of hide and seek, they sat were all had, without words, agreed that they belonged. The hostility that erupted over the discovery of the water rations and the follow up discovery of crew members that had broken away to make the water, had revealed long held animosities amongst the crew.

Biting and shoving at each other pus.h.i.+ng away those that did not matter to them only to discover they did not matter to some they did care for; leaving them with a new sense of betrayal. They were ostracized from their supposed peers and found themselves amongst others willing to tolerate them, for too long they had held each other's hands and washed each other's backs only to learn familiarity breeds contempt. If only that cloud could rain down on them some sympathy over the brewing anguish that would soon yield a bitter fruit.

As the sun rose Chief Brosuer went around from group to group wakening only those he trusted; gathering social support for the morning's a.s.sertion of authority. Today they would be finalizing the pentagon walls, and now that they had fire and a water delivery it was time to make tea.

Brosuer first woke GMG2 Smity a gunner's mate guns, he had had the position of lead brig watch though he had only stood those watches on one occasion under the previous captain when I man was put on bread and water and three days confinement for a.s.saulting an officer with an additional specification of It having happened at sea. Smity enjoyed the image of the navy with its heady l.u.s.ty images of n.o.blemen and pirates at sea despite the fact the all his navy experience went against that recruiting image. He then woke FC3 Zemkay he had been a rising star in the fire control rating, dating females in the gunners mate missile rate to have a personal contact within the work centers maintaining the other half of the systems he was responsible for...he handled the consoles and control systems, they took care of the actual missiles. Next was Atrisia Wells, relatively new to the s.h.i.+p but impa.s.sioned by the job, social outrage would inspire her to strike with lethal force and without the guidance of her chain of command she would act in haste and likely kill the victim of a crime before even confronting the a.s.sailant. Then he woke Hudlow and authoritative engineer that had reached E-6 before leaving the training command, he had been made a 'building maintenance supervisor'; BMS a code for janitor that was synonymous with mental disorders, in Hudlow's case he had a remarkably low const.i.tution; had personnel at his command been wearing costumes during the workday on Halloween, Hudlow would have gone delirious and stammered through the day. This marooning left Hudlow on another plain of reality, full of magic and illusion. Chief Tony Casley was a navy runt and he was awoken next, the runts were motivated by a lifetime of short jokes and hara.s.sments within the navy for being of a lesser stature, anyone familiar with the old word belief that a tall man was inherently more intelligent than a shorter man could see the reasoning and the situations that lead to those deductions develop on just about any s.h.i.+p in the navy.

On the slightest sign of uncertainty they appeared to be lessor men, and it was necessary to leave room for leaders.h.i.+p from subordinates by not always presenting as domineering; something a taller man would survive with his reputation intact, but the shorter guys would never live down. He had stayed in the navy to build a reputation that overcame this observed reality in his life, though it was only high school and the navy where that belief system flourished, had he left the navy he would have been subjected to a higher degree of maturity and more reasonable deductions made by his co-workers.

Brosuer had decided that the command master chief was genuinely too old for these military endeavors so we woke Charlie McCree instead of the master chief, she stood there being stared at by those he had already awoken. They starred at her in shock as though they were looking at the command master chief's geisha girl, which was distinctly different than a wh.o.r.e. Charlie looked back at them mirroring their shock and realized they seemed to have some contempt for her and she uttered, "What?"; they then strolled away and formed ranks.

Brosuer said, "Don't form up yet it isn't just us. We need a role call on everyone. Let's just cover what we need to get them to do first."

Over at the boiler work camp I started to wake up again the sun was just risen and as I awoke I heard music in my dreams, violins and cello's playing a harmony like some kind of U2 song. I looked at Athena still asleep next to me and I rolled over to find Tommi staring at me like she had been watching an aquarium and drifted off into thought. I said, "Good morning." she looked away from me by looking down at the ground near her feet as she sat there b.u.t.t on the ground and legs stretched feet on the ground and she replied, "Ya.." I asked, "Where did you sleep?" She replied, "I'm not sure I have Rob, but I lied down on the hillside. I couldn't find my way down in the dark, once the sun came up I went for a walk." I asked, "How was your walk?" as I began to sit up and she said, "Well, there's definitely wild boar here." I responded, "That's what I suspected and was hoping for." Tommi crossed her legs and still staring toward the ground as if she couldn't make eye contact with me she asked, "What you hoped for?" I said, "Ya, they may be dangerous, but when all is said and done they will just be cheeseburgers...sans cheese." Tommi turn on her b.u.t.t and laid back and said, "Ahh...that does make it different." then she rolled over to go to sleep. I glanced back at Athena and she was still asleep so I scooted over to Tommi and caressed her hair asking her if she was alright to which she responded, "Oh, I'm fine...just fine..." Tommi drifted off to sleep and I got up to see how much more work we needed on the fis.h.i.+ng net and how far along we were on the other boilers and as I got up I looked over to see Athena glaring at me. Athena said, "You pull that s.h.i.+t on me and I'll cut your b.a.l.l.s off." I said, "What s.h.i.+t?" Athena said, "The way you were touching her, I'm not going to be needing any of your reflexology ma.s.sages Rob." I sighed and ran my fingers across Athena's head and said, "She slept on the hillside stranded in the dark; couldn't find her way down, I actually slept next to you." Athena responded, "I know...you pull any s.h.i.+t with me and your b.a.l.l.s will be fish bait." I replied, "Okay" and got up and went back to the fis.h.i.+ng net lines we were weaving.

Mike Elper woke up and saw me working on the net and looked over at the cooling boiler pieces they had finished last night only one bowl half, the top, had cracked and A couple of the bricks had split. He asked, "Hey Rob, what do I do about these cracked pieces?" As he held them up I glanced over and saw what he was referring to. I said, "s.p.a.ckle them and recook them, if they crack again well just make all new pieces." He replied, "Alright...how long on the net?" I said, "This will take the rest of the day and we need a couple of logs to turn into a pontoon boat" Mitch interjected, "We need fish soon Rob." I replied, "I know. There's wild boar running around here and we'll have to take some of them, but there's something about those Hawaiian luaus where they bury the pig for three days to kill the worms in it." Athena got up and said, "Gruble was up all night she could get down from the mountain in the dark so let her sleep. I'll help with the boiler." Mike retorted, "They're stills. It's evaporative distillation we're using." Mitch said, "I'll look for some logs." Michael coughed and asked, "Do we have any water ready" Athena checked the vase and tasted the water and replied, "Ya, it's almost full" Michael got up and drank some water then jointed me at net making. Jennifer slowly got up and ran behind a tree which startled everyone. They were just headed to their tasks, but in a hushed silence the sound of water splattering in the dirt was heard and everyone realized she had to pee and went back to their tasks. Jennifer came out from behind a tree and looked at Athena and asked, "They didn't watch did they?" Athena responded causally, "No, but you heard linda, so what color was it?" Jennifer blushed and laughed a little and said, "Same slightly yellow color it always is.." Athena replied, "okay"

Jennifer joined Michael and I at the net, she looked at me and said, "Lyon you should probably help Mitch find those logs you need and I didn't leave any back there it was just pee...sorry." I laughed and said, "Okay" and headed out to look for trees that had already fallen and weren't rotted out.

At the landing Brosuers in crowd was starting revile.

Atrisia would put her face right in a sleeping survivors and face and start yelling like it was the second day of bootcamp, more than once the responses she got was being shoved down and told, "Shut up b.i.t.c.h!" Brosuer looked at her with disappointment and said, "How about just waking them up." The next group she went to wake she kicked sand in their faces, Smity and Casley walked over to her as that group started to get up dismayed as to why they deserved that and they shoved her down. Smity said, "Just wake them up, get your d.a.m.n panties out of your a.s.s and quit being such a b.i.t.c.h." Atrisia yelled back, "I don't have any panties. Jeff Hubbal sat up and said, "Because you couldn't get the birdy cartoon character out?" Atrisia replied, "They were a gift and my family hadn't considered that those may be the panties I die in!"

Artimus was in his lean-to waiting for the yelling to stop, he had to pretend to be unaware or he be expected to react, if he didn't then it would be seen as condoning the behavior. Artimus stepped out of the pentagon as soon as the yelling subsided for a minute or two and made himself appear to be distant and in deep contemplation. He glanced over at Chief Casius and said, "Have them form up." Casius said, "Okay...get in ranks!!" Em3 Villa said, "Chief some of them we can't wake up, they might be sick." Casius replied, "Just form up." The captain stood chin up as casius looked over to see if he had heard it, seeing no sign of recognition she said, "Sir, some..."Artimus interjected, "...'Just form up' will be fine chief." As they formed ranks the captain glanced over and gestured as he said, "Tighten it up on the left." and he checked to see that the ranks had formed to his satisfaction. Then he clapped his hands and rubbed them together and announced, "Okay, we have some work to do today. We need to get these walls up and get some sentry positions going...some watches..." and with a big congratulatory smile he continued, "to watch for our rescuers."

He began to walk the ranks first row pacing back and forth as he said, "Our rescuers will need the rea.s.surance that we have maintained ourselves as a military unit and that their heroism is matched only by our ability to survive these adverse circ.u.mstances." Artimus glanced out at the ranks hoping to see bold smiles in response to his a.s.sertion that rescue was absolutely on its way. Instead it was blank stares and shock, He continued, "I have been through the ranks to reach the position of captain, I you can be sure I know a little something about navy operations, the delay in our rescue is indicative of ongoing operations that implicate this region. I expect you to be vigilant for rescue or hostiles. Given the recent political climate the possibility that our s.h.i.+ps loss was due to an adversary it far from impossible though it does trend in the direction of drug cartels operating in the waters of southern California and northern Mexico. I would not expect an a.s.sault team to find us, but rescue is eminent."

Chief Brosuer stepped up and said, "Aye sir." Captain Artimus strolled over to the surf and starred out at the water as the chiefs continued morning muster. The Junior officers had been standing in the ranks but recognized their cue and went to join Artimus at the surf. Ensign Clarkson stood there with her khaki s.h.i.+rt of and a white tee-s.h.i.+rt, her khaki pants were stained at the knees as well as at the crotch she asked, "What's the political climate sir?" Artimus responded, "Bad things happen all the time, the waters we were operating in before the loss of the s.h.i.+p were non incidental, so it wasn't a regular force."

Swishzel said, "Sir, I don't think we were attacked, we had an odd list for days. We were going to have s.h.i.+pyard divers check on once we were back." Artimus replied, "The point is, the rescue is delayed because of ongoing operations." Lees stepped forward and asked, "What about the water sir?" Artimus asked, "Where did it come from?" Chief Casius, walked up in an irritated state and asked, "Permission to dismiss the crew sir?"

Artimus replied, "Put them to work chief" and gleamed a smile at the junior officers to signal them to present as happy and confident. Spayner replied, "I'll help you chief."

Spayner stepped up to the ranks, her khaki s.h.i.+rt was open and her tee-s.h.i.+rt was sheer, the breeze teased her blouse and hair, she had a streak of dirt on her chin and her khaki pants were rolled up to just beneath the knee. With a flick of her dark brown shoulder length hair she said, "Okay, let's build these walls and set some guards." She put her left hand on her hip and turn to her right, glancing back at the ranks to her left she said, "We need to know where the water came from, so's we can get more. That is all turn two." Atrisia still barefoot walked up to Sputali, still enjoying the breeze blowing through her hair and up her pant legs. Atrisia said, "An engineer brought the water through that hole in the brush." Spayner had a wide smile from enjoying the breeze and had her head c.o.c.ked back, she glanced over to Atrisia and said, "Show me." Atrisia had short blonde hair that for a woman could only be referred to as 'military style' she ran her right hand through her hair and c.o.c.ked her head to the left in a leading gesture and loosened a couple of b.u.t.tons on her s.h.i.+rt as she turned to guide Spayner to the break in the brush, Atrisia had given up her tee-s.h.i.+rt so the unb.u.t.toning revealed her bra and what cleavage a 'b' cup could produce. Jane Spurtlai noticed the gesture and leaned over as they walked toward the brush line to whisper, "Maybe you should leave that b.u.t.toned you don't have much going on down there." Atrisia looked back at her with a stunned goofy smile to which Spayner responded, "I'm just sayin'...you know woman to woman." Atrisia laughed and took her dungaree s.h.i.+rt off completely and replied, "Let's keep the woman to woman stuff going" and winked at Jane. Jane pointed at an opening of the brush line and asked, "So...over here then?" and before she received a response she blurted out, "Okay, thank you." Atrisia called to Jane as she hustled away, "Ma'am have you seen my panties?" To which Jane responded, "No, thank you." EM1 Haydel said, "Is that them with the birdy on them?" pointing at various tee-s.h.i.+rts and pants hung on a bush. Atrisia responded, "Doesn't matter." Charlie MCcree was nearby and said, "Mine have a pink heart on them, used to be red but they faded."

Hauldbalm sitting next to her added, "Bite marks too." Atrisia looked over as she went to gather more sticks and rolled her eyes.

Capt. Dave Artimus stood with the remainder of his officers discussing the situation. Dave said, "I'm not going to have our rescuers show up and discover we have failed to be officers, we'll maintain leaders.h.i.+p and prevent any hostilities from developing amongst the crew. The 'pentagon' as they have been calling it will be our symbol of fidelity, confidence, and hope. They'll need leaders.h.i.+p and a logo to follow." Mr. Capes had been standing bent at the knee cradling his stomach and just collapsed to his knees, "Sir," he said, "I need food." Dave replied, "I was told they were making a fis.h.i.+ng net, just hold on." Clarkson asked, "Who?" Dave replied, "The same b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that got us into this." Spayner had returned from her walk with Atrisia and heard that statement and said, "I don't understand?"

Dave replied, "The D.O.D. deputy that brought all this h.e.l.l on us by declaring martial law over some snow." Ens. Swishzel asked, "They did this?" Dave responded, "That was why we needed this mission, to regain some d.a.m.n credit with our superiors, but don't say anything about this to any of them."

Bruce Deckly glanced at Mormus sleeping in the sand and then at Mulner and mulner blurted out, "f.u.c.king enlisted."

Near the pentagon they were still arranging bush and sticks interweaving them as best they could to make a wall, when Ens.

Mulner was overheard saying 'f.u.c.king enlisted.' Chief Brosuer looked over at her and said to himself, "They lose the f.u.c.king s.h.i.+p and she has the b.a.l.l.s to say that." Haydel heard her as well and despite Brosuer speaking under his breath to himself she had heard what he said as well. She sarcastically blurted out, "Well, you know they're all going to be admirals now." Brosuer looked down at the sticks she was weaving together and said, "Don't weave those any looser because of that; they won't want us looking in, but I don't want them looking out."

Mulner saw Haydel looking at her with a glare and Mulner was heard saying, "We should courts martial them." she was seen putting her hands and her hips as she said that smileing confidently and proudly at Artimus. Artimus seemed displeased that she said that a volume that could be over heard and he gesture to her. He was seen appearing to saying 'over here' as he and Mulner walked closer to the surf to further drown out their voices. Brosuer was still tring to lip read them in shock and Mulner eventually turn and in a somewhat drowned raspy female voice he heard her say to him, "Get to work chief!"

Brosuer then strolled over to Master chief Hauldbalm and sat down with him. Mulner seeing this appeared enraged and started walking in his direction in an authoritative stride but Artimus grabbed her arm and could be heard saying, "This is what I am talking about!" Mulner brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up at Dave with a look that seemed to be a spoiled daughter looking at her father in dismay as to why she was being chastised about the maid not having done the dishes. Clarkson folded her arms and glanced over at all the enlisted gazing in their direction and looked embarra.s.sed. For some that was sufficient that resumed their activities. For others their look of disbelief continued, for them this was finally the proof of what they had suspected all along, petty motivations fueled by a sense of ent.i.tlement. And now it was that character that had landed them in the middle of the ocean floating on their backs for an entire week, only to be washed up on some would be princesses new kingdom and she wasn't the only one that seemed to regard herself that way.

Francesco had heard what was being said and glanced over at gunner's mate Smity nearby he was preparing to post a watch he laughed at Francesco and said, "And you still have to respect them because there are certain realities...for example Sweden stays neutral, you know that right?" Francesco said, "Ya." Smity asked, "Do you know why?" Francesco said, "They're peaceful people but they stay uninvolved when it looks weak to stay out of the wars." Smity chuckled and replied, "That's what I'm talking about; because, I have no idea where you got that idea.

Sweden stay's neutral and we acknowledge that and don't try to pull them in to wars or police actions because as a government they are neutral...but as a people, they have been providing mercenaries to the whole world for hundreds of years now; and you thought they were weak idealist pacifists"

Monica Villa joined Francesco and kissed him on the cheek as the three of them gathered brush and wove it together for the pentagon walls, just after Monica kissed Francesco's cheek Smity Said, "There you go, just handle what matters and let the officers handle the rest." Monica asked, "What were you guys talking about?" Smity interjected, "Nothing." to which Francesco added, "Just building a wall." Monica said, "Ya, this is bulls.h.i.+t." Smity said, "Ya, I know...but I'm still a second cla.s.s so let's get it done." Smity walked away and Monica blurted out, "What an a.s.shole."

Francesco said, "At least were doing something." and Monica watched him weave the stick together and said, "Ya... you better not be a lazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d when were married." Francesco scoffed and said, "I won't be." and Monica blushed.

I had scoured the island on the Eastern side and found a couple of logs; soil erosion had taken out the trees root system. I looked for any rock I could use to attempt to hollow out some of the trunk, but knew it wasn't absolutely necessary. So instead I started winding some rough plant materials together to form a rope, I had taken the fibrous brown material from around the base of the palm tree and it occurred to me we should be making the fis.h.i.+ng net of it as well, it was tougher and more st.u.r.dy, the palm fibers were soft almost like silk. After making a short section way too short to actually use, but none the less proved it possible to make rope from that material, I knocked the log down the small cliff side it was on and carried the other down to the beach and dragged the over to our work site. Tommi gruble stepped Out from behind a bush pulling her pants up, watching me drag the logs; I didn't smile because of the look of shock on her face, instead I looked out at a cras.h.i.+ng wave and watched the curl collapse and noted how blindingly bright out it had become, must have been the glare off the sand. Tommi came up and said, "A boat?" I said, "Our fis.h.i.+ng boat" she smiled with a huge grin and took the smaller log. I smiled back and realized I hadn't smiled at first seeing her, she was relieving herself in a bush and I had startled her coming from further down the beach in the opposite direction then she had expected and the shock lingered, when she asked, 'a boat' she was hoping my answer would be that I had seen a boat, and not that the logs would serve as a fis.h.i.+ng boat but at this point the phrase 'any news is good news' is true.

The pentagon walls had gone up and no one from the landing had ventured in our direction, we would soon be delivering three vases of water simultaneously leaving ourselves with one. Double rations for the work crew just seemed right.

The work crew was gathering more wood for the fire which had been maintained religiously. The size of the fire in the circle of lean-tos now also walled off but four walls and a fifth wall the was more of a thicket forming an arch was to be reduced to a much smaller fire to prevent those walls from catching fire.

Artimus instructed the officers to have the enlisted coat the wood with mud to further reduce the chance of a 'surprise your fort is now an oven, turkey!' moment.

The 'blue s.h.i.+rts', enlisted pay grades E-6 and below, were dirty and getting dirtier still as they carried mud over to the pentagon and threw mud pies at the walls like hippie protestors.

Hudlow made a little smily face out of his mud pie and showed it to Lieutenant Capes and said, "It's you!" then throw it at the woven twig wall and just as he turned to give Mr. Capes the middle finger capes slapped him so hard Hudlow fell down and the Robert Capes said, "James, get your head out of your a.s.s."

Hudlow looked away from him lying there in the sand and turned to look at the ocean waves but once again there he was...the sand spider. Hudlow started sweating and shuffled away on his back then ran around saying, "There's spiders everywhere!"

Robert said, "I think he just likes you James." and walked back into the pentagon. Atrisia stood with a pile of mud in her hand she was considering throwing at James and then thought she might have a better target. She scratched at her crotch and looked around, Ebony Allick made eye contact with her and just before Atrisia could tell her to screw off Ebony gave her a sly look and reached down her dungaree pants and scratched at herself as well. Atrisia nips got erected and she turned and threw the mud pie at she wall as hard as she could then rubbed her shoulder saying to herself, "to bad I don't like black girls."

Ebony had come up behind her while she was rubbing her shoulders and started rubbing them for her and whispered, "I don't like white girls either." Mister Deckly noticed the apparent s.e.xual context of the situation and had been observing the work, concerned over the hostility and the sudden onset of lesbian l.u.s.t he blushed and walked away.

EN3 Rich stepped up near Atrisia and had a hand full of mud himself, and said, "Throwing it that hard looks like it really works, it got into all the gaps." He held out his hand with the mud in it and asked, "Was it wetter than this?" Atrisia suspected double entendre and looked at it, in a hazey melo demeanor she replied, "It's about that wet, but might be stickier." Ebony giggled and pulled Atrisia away. Rich threw his mud at the wall hard enough that there was a thud. Orbly walked up and in a rant he started making mud pies from a cache of mud he had placed in his dungaree s.h.i.+rt that he carried like a bag over his shoulder he dropped it on the ground and packed mud like s...o...b..a.l.l.s as he threw them yelling, "f.u.c.king island...f.u.c.king Officers...f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.hes..." Mulner saw this and she became enraged and ran at Orbly to tackle him as she knocked him down her bra broke and he grabbed at her breast tring to subdue her, she yelled, "You just tore my bra b.i.t.c.h!" Orbly grabbed a had full of mud from his s.h.i.+rt next to he and slapped her with it. In the shock of the moment everyone observing that saw the mud splatter in slow motion and the range of facial expressions that crossed Kimberly Mulners was surreal, shock does that...slows thing down because it has sped you up. She looked down at orbly with mud splattered in her hair, she realized she was straddling his chest and all her anger over the circ.u.mstance overwhelmed her, she reached over for a handful of mud as if she were at her desk reaching for an ink pen and was going to set to work, she took the mud and with an odd psychotic smile and twist of her head started packing handful after handful of mud into James...o...b..y's face James clawed at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and Kimberly rode his chest like a mechanical bull, ensuring she got mud into his mouth and up his nose. Once James recovered from his rage he realized she was trying to kill him as he spit out mud and wiped it from his eyes and he struck her as hard as he could in the left temple. Kimberly was knocked unconscious and Orbly threw her off of him. As he a.s.sessed the situation he became enraged again, with both hands he grabbed her by the neck and started dragging her down the water to the surf, leaving a wide trail in the sand.

Mr. Deckly had been observing from a distance on a slight slope leading up to the brush line, he pa.s.sed out where he stood.

Mr. Mormus lay nearby still sleeping but his breathing had become noticeably labored. Chief Tony Casley felt sick and slumped over having spread his legs wide enough to stand stable, he looked as though he were going to throw up. BM3 Brock became enraged as well, and ran at the wall as though it were a tackling dummy and slammed his shoulder against it.

On the other side of the pentagon the mudslinging continued as they cursed their predicament and those that brought us here. Dave sat in his lean-to waiting for the moment to pa.s.s but this was far more than just a moment, the escalation continued.

I was on the beach, about three football fields in length or three hundred yards away from these 'goings on'. Tommi Grubble and I were las.h.i.+ng the logs together in a square shape like a pontoon boat, the refinement of a hollowed out section to sit in would have to wait. The net was being woven be Michael and Jennifer, Mike Elper joined in occasionally while Mitch tended to the boilers, he had to fan the flames with a palm branch and remove full vases replacing them with the empties and refill the boilers with sea water he carried in the deep cups.

Once we had lashed the two logs and two long branches together he had to test it for buoyancy. Tommi and I pushed it through the surf more than a little concerned that it might be carried out to sea. Through the sound of the cras.h.i.+ng waves I called to her with a laugh, "We're going to need a pier. haha"

On almost exactly the opposite side of the island sat En3 Yodal and EN1 Cair sat on the beach talking and throwing rocks into the surf. Cair said, "I think they sank us on purpose..."and laughed, "there some things that went bad." and he giggled.

Kelly Yodal asked, "Why...why would they do that?" Cair replied, "When these woman got here some of us got our a.s.ses chewed, we were sayin' they'd have to come up to the Paul F Foster's standard. and the admirals jumped down our throats...sayin' 'up to the standard...up to the standard!!??' it seems we'd been reporting we weren't ready for operation number four four seven two something or other, something or other...we all voted to stay 'not ready' hahaha, it said it might hasten our deployment date." Kelly laughed and said, "f.u.c.k them then I wouldn't want to deploy sooner for some bulls.h.i.+t op." Cair said, "Ya...Ya, I know what you mean. But they gave that op. a name." and again he trailed off into hysterical laughter. Kelly smiled and asked while laughing at Cair's hysteria, "What was it...blue eagle, red beagle...Silver talon."

Cair still laughing uncontrollably rolling around on the ground said, "No! Hahaha, better than that." Yodal asked in all sincerity, "Was it a sub?" Cair started coughing he was laughing so hard and managed to grunt out, "No...even better. It was operation...hahaha....operation Desert s.h.i.+eld!!! Hahaha" Yodal went pale and started sweating and uttered, "Oh, s.h.i.+t...we are screwed."

Gsm3 Kresley paced back in forth near the pentagon and there in the sand it actually created a small trench. A full-fledged brawl had broken out on the beach, Hauldbalm sat back and watched what he referred to as a cat fight, and once Charlie McCree tore Clarksons tee-s.h.i.+rt revealing her black silk bra everyone would have referred to that as a cat fight. Orbly had thrown mulner into the ocean and everytime she came out of the water he shoved her back in. Philip was throwing mud at the walls yelling, "f.u.c.k you r.e.t.a.r.ded officers! You dirty slack jawed red necked dog s.h.i.+t eating horse d.i.c.k sucking monkey nut busting Khaki wearing f.a.gtards" Dave was taken back, even for a sailor stringing together that many insults into one was quite an accomplishment, he had awarded medals for less. Just as he dazed off trying to remember the reason for the last navy achievement medal he issued he was blindsided with a tackle Larry Linscoe who kept yelling at him, "You f.u.c.k, you f.u.c.k, go f.u.c.k you, you f.u.c.k!" Scott Tinnel was beating Swishzel with a wet tee-s.h.i.+rt wrapped around his fist. And Washam and Ens.

Braun were attempting to strangle each other in such a way that it looked almost like a make out session. Dave struck Larry Linscoe in the temple ringing his cathedral bell and unleas.h.i.+ng the bats. After which Dave ran into the brush line to wait out the strife, and Larry started to mumble to his third grade teacher that he had done his homework but his dad needed it for work.

As I sat on a log trying to paddle with my legs and arms in unison with Tommi Gruble with her crotch was right in my face as we attempted to paddle around ensuring we had control of the 'boat' the landing further down the island, came cras.h.i.+ng down.

Sn Syre came running down the beach toward the rocks jutting out dividing the beach between the landing side and our work camp site with a b.l.o.o.d.y nose and a handful of brown hair.

Tommi sat up changing the balance of the boat, I uttered as I tried to stabilize the logs by s.h.i.+fting my position, "I think I was better off with your honey pot in my face." Tommi looked at me with her usual look of disappointment and pointed at Syre and said, "What the h.e.l.l happened?" I replied, "I think it's time to figure out if getting this thing back to sh.o.r.e is going to break our necks in the waves."

We landed the boat and the las.h.i.+ngs loosened slightly, we'd have to review our methods. But Syre was trembling and looking at us asking, "Can you get us out of here?" she had nearly killed herself trying to climb over the rocks that jugged out of the brush; I replied, "No" she then asked, "Are you just crazy too?" I responded, "Who's hair is that?" she then asked with a scoff, "How long were the two of you out there?" I then asked her, "Syre...what's going on over at the landing?" She retorted, "You weren't over there? They're all over there and they went f.u.c.king nuts. Artimus had us build him a fort he calls the f.u.c.king pentagon!" I looked at her distressed demeanor and said, "We'll take you over to the boiler" Syre said, "Boiler? is that where that water came from? Do you have more?" I responded, "It's a work detail and this d.a.m.n thing is supposed to help us fish." She sprint over and helped us pull it further onto the beach as she said, "I'm good to work, especially if I get food and water." Tommi interjected, "That's what we're working towards."

We headed back to the work camp with Syre in tow the blood from her nosed had dried on her face. We had left the pontoon boat where it lay. Michael saw Syre's face and the blood and said, "I guess you're here to help with the fis.h.i.+ng net." Syre shook her finger and replied, "That's exactly it!" and sat down where the net was being woven then asked as pleasantly as possible, "Do we have any water left?" Michael replied, "Ya, you need to use one of the reeds as a straw." Syre responded, "Okay." and she went over and drank some water.

Mike watched her drink and commented, "We are making more now but we're still rationing, do they need more over there?"

Syre finished drinking and said, "I didn't take too much, but you probably don't want to head over there right now...they're killing each other." There was a look of dread from everyone there and I commented, "Ahh...ya, we really have to wait that out. I had sh.o.r.e patrol in j.a.pan and did some security work in great lakes; if they are rioting we have to wait until they are exhausted." Mike added, "Especially since we're unarmed."

We sat working on our tasks as quietly as possible. Mitch sat kneeling at the fire box of the boiler that would need fresh wood first and I commented, "The charcoal will burn hotter and cleaner than the wood. We need to make paper and wrap the charcoal in it." Mitch didn't look over to me he just shook his head and waved his hand. After a long pause with us still tending to our tasks, Mitch said, "I don't know how to make paper and how many dead?"

Cair and Yodal started to walk back to the landings tossing rocks and drift wood into the ocean waves as they walked. They came around an out cropping of trees and saw the crew standing at odds, one crew member would rush at the other crowd and the crowd would shove that person back. It looked like a drinking game from scottsland. Captain Artimus walked out between the two crowds and said, "I think we've had enough violence for today, now a good tussle can..." just then the two groups joined lifting Dave up and rushed him over to the cras.h.i.+ng surf and threw him in.

Chapter Six.The Green Reed Cabana With Syre having joined us it was definitely time to build the cabana. Our workforce was growing and soon we would be fis.h.i.+ng Hawaiian style, spear and net from a pontoon canoe. Mich.e.l.le Syre was an attractive blonde girl with a sway to her hips and beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s, she had managed to keep her tee-s.h.i.+rt as well as her dungaree s.h.i.+rt, she did make the mistake of losing her socks, and her boots wafted with a definite odor. It was a shame, a week on the ocean without so much as a floatation device and she had managed to keep her boots, but with the loss of her socks her boots were just an excuse to develop athlete's foot.

After being out on the water Tommi and I were zonked. I laid down near the net work and there was the odor of Mich.e.l.le's feet. I sniffed around trying to figure out what had died nearby and she noticed the facial expression. Mich.e.l.le said with a giggly smile as she wound threads and strings, "Can you smell my boots? Disgusting isn't it?" She laughed and reached into her boot to scratch her foot. I said, "Don't worry about it" and yawned. Then she scratched my nose with the same fingers she had scratched her feet with and laughed. So I lunged up and started tickling her, she tickled me back saying, "You know you liked it." I was coughing badly and gagging and replied, "I liked it so much, I'm gonna' wash your feet for you!" She giggled and said, "Okay." as she blushed. I took of her boots and threw them as far away as I could and carried her down to the wet sand and scrubbed her feet as she laid back and fondled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I thought 'well this is new' as long as the smell was gone and I got to watch her play with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s everything was just awesome after all, things are looking up.

I grabbed the short section of rope I had made from fibers palm tree bark material and said, "We probably should have used this for a net, so let's reinforced the net with these bark fibers." Jennifer blurted out, "More work...no foo