Ghost Carrier: They Died to Fight Another Day (6 page)

Joe sat in the mess hall staring down at mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak growing cold on his plate. He wasn’t hungry and neither were many of the guys who were at the meeting with the Admiral. Joe looked over to Charlie and then to Al. Both seemed to be lost in thought. The food in front of them had gone cold.

Joe sensed a shift. The ship had taken on a new atmosphere. You didn’t hear much laughter. Guys huddled in groups off by themselves. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he certainly felt it – a divided crew. That natural shipboard camaraderie was completely gone, replaced by
don’t trust anybody
wariness
.

“Mind some company?” Frank looked up and saw Theo.

“Sure.”

Theo settled in across from Joe with a heaping tray.

“You feel it too, huh?”

“Yeah.” Joe responded, “Little icy in here.”

“Sure ‘nough. But don’t you never mind about all that.”

Frank looked at Theo quizzically.

“Them guys. We got ‘em out numbered. You can feel them runnin’ scared.”

Joe looked over at a few of them. They did look a little scared or at least nervous. He suddenly realized that he and the other guys who went down with the ship had now formed a strong bond virtually shutting out everyone else on the ship.

“Heck of a lot more of us went down with this ship than survived,” Theo continued.

“Maybe, Theo, they think that we’re banding together against them or something, and they don’t know why.”

“Maybe.” Theo said absently as he shoveled a heaping fork of gravy smothered mashed potatoes into his mouth.

“I can’t believe it, Theo. A suicide mission?”

“Yeah, hell, I was just gettin’ used to being alive,” the big man said with a chuckle.

Joe relaxed into a smile even though it was a sad one and then changed the subject. “A lotta guys are alive today cause of what you did at Pearl.”

“Nah, I jus’ did what I had to do.”

“How many Jap planes you shoot down, two, three?”

“They tell me four.”

“Jeez, I can’t even imagine what it was like. Must have been hell being attacked by all those Jap planes like that.”

Theo’s thoughts drifted back two Decembers earlier to an overcast Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii.

“Nobody knew what was happin’, like it weren’t even real. I was on the
West Virginia.
When I went to my battle station, it weren’t there no more so I run around seeing what I could do. Lt. White grabbed me and told me to help load the .50 cals on the back of the tower. You couldn’t hear nothin’ but all the plane noise. Them Jap planes was buzzin’ so fast everywhere. Zoomin’ around like bees. Soon as I loaded the second gun, I jus’ started firin’ it fast as I could.”

“You ever shoot one of those guns before?”

“Nope, but I learned right quick. Used to hunt squirrels with my .22 back in Waco. Just kept my finger on the trigger till I was outta ammo. You couldn’t help but hit somethin’.”

“Well, that was some damn good shootin’. Damn good.”

“Yessir!”

Joe paused looking for the right words, “Theo, we have to fight back. Like at Pearl. We gotta do something. Hell we were winning this goddamn war back in that other world.”

“Not much we can do. We’re stuck here.”

“What if…what if we took over the ship. The Admiral would be with us. This is the flagship. The other ships would have to follow us.”

“Where’d we go?”

“I’m not sayin’ we go hide someplace. I’m saying we turn this damn Carrier battle group around and go attack the Japs on the west coast. We’ll never make it to Japan, and I don’t see the sense anyway. I don’t understand it. We gotta score to settle with them for sinking our ship.”

“Well, you got ‘dat right.”

“Look, the Admiral doesn’t like the orders either. We’re being sacrificed pure and simple, and I don’t know why.”

Theo nodded in agreement.

“If I’m gonna die again, I’m gonna do it my way. I want to go out swinging and take as many Japs as I can down with me. We gotta find a way to turn this task force around.”

MARIA’S LIBRARY READING ROOM

Katie had taken her position on the sofa and Frank settled in the chair by the window. He didn’t know why, but he was more nervous for this session than the first.
Strange
he thought as he handed Maria his Hamilton watch.

“Maria, I’m still confused on some things. Can I ask you a couple questions before we start?”

“Certainly.”

“Okay. I was thinking about my father stuck in 1943 in another reality. Wouldn’t he have aged and lived out his life already in that world?”

“Logically a person would think so because of our notion of linear time. But really, Frank, that isn’t the case at all. Time is not linear. It’s perceptual. Past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. Wherever you are, the time is always now.”

Frank shook his head not following.

“Just consider the concept of time Frank. If you’re in New York and it’s 12 noon and you call a friend in London, their time is five hours ahead of ours. It’s 5 pm there. In essence you’re calling from their past. They’ve already experienced 12 noon that day. You hang up with them and decide to call a friend in LA. You’re calling from their future because of the time difference coast to coast. They haven’t experienced 12 noon yet.”

Frank nodded beginning to get what she was saying.

“And your life is the same way, Frank. Your future is out in front of you and it’s unfolding right now. Imagine this. Imagine you’re on a hill overlooking a long train going by on tracks below. This train represents your entire lifespan. Each train car is a year in your life.”

“Okay.”

“All the train cars exist now. You can see them all moving forward from your vantage point on the hill. Things are happening in each train car or year simultaneously. So each train car or year, like 1943, exists and is always happening because every moment is always happening now.

Frank tried to process all this. “I think I see what you mean. Everything is now. And the future is?”

“The front of the train. Your future self is living in your probable future this very instant.”

“Whoa, that’s something.”

“Yes. Look, have you ever had the experience of
deja vu
?”

Frank nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I have.”

“
Deja vu
is you coming up to speed with your future self who has already lived the experience. That’s why when you experience
deja vu
things look familiar and actions feel like you’ve done them before. Deep within, you retain memories of both your past
and
your future.”

Frank grabbed what was left of the hair on his head and tugged.

“I know, I know, it’s mind blowing, but that is how this universe
really
works. That’s why a psychic or a medium like myself can peer into your future. It’s happening now. Of course, it’s only your
probable
future. Things are never set in stone. But that probable future is unfolding at this very second based on the choices you’re making in this now moment.”

Frank was nodding. It was a completely different way for him to comprehend time and the universe.

“Let’s get back to your Dad. I’ve asked my guides for help so give me a moment while I bring them in.”

Maria closed her eyes and began to take deep regular breaths, in and out, in and out.

“DeBen, we are pleased you could join us here in this time space reality. We are trying to reach Frank’s father, Joe, trapped in a parallel dimension.”

Frank looked over to Katie.

“Yes, Yes. But it has been done, correct?” Maria pressed her invisible spirit guide.

Maria turned toward Frank, her eyes remaining closed, “DeBen is saying that what we are seeking to accomplish has rarely been attempted.”

Her attention was drawn inward again, “Yes, yes, oh? Yes. Go on.”

Frank turned to Katie again. She simply shrugged and looked back to Maria.

“All right, I will convey this.”

Frank turned back to Maria and this time she opened her eyes.

“Frank, your father has continued in the war, but events are quite different in the reality he’s experiencing. America is losing the war.”

“What?” Frank blurted out.

“It’s true. His current dimension is on a very different track.”

“How is that possible?”

“Everything and anything is possible when you have a different past and future.”

Maria’s attention was drawn inward again, “A moment please.”

“Oh, oh dear,” she said as she continued to listen to her invisible spirit guides. “But what about…? Nonexistence?”

Maria opened her eyes slowly and looked at Frank, choosing her words carefully.

“DeBen was conveying to me that your father is in grave danger. On the reality track he’s in, Japan eventually wins the war. The United States has been weakened by fighting a war on two fronts. In your father’s current reality track, if circumstances don’t change, there is a high probability he will not survive the war.”

Frank gasped and struggled to hold back tears.

“But, Frank, there is another thing.”

“Another thing? How could there be another thing?” Frank asked still processing the pain.

“Because of the psychic rip or portal that your father and his crew traveled through into the other dimension, they retain a strong soul connection to our reality. That’s why your father retains his memories. You could think of this connection as a cord or a lifeline. A part of his soul is there and a part of it is here.”

“Okay…,” Frank said needing further explanation.

“In his current reality I’m being told your father never married. Frank, if he dies in that dimension, it will not only wipe out his future there but also the parallel Joe here who gave birth to you.”

“I’m not following.”

“Frank, the version of you that you know is alive in this dimension because of Joe. If we’re unable to reunite you both or if he dies in that reality, the part of his soul remaining here will cease to exist. It will mean that the father that you had never existed in this reality.

Frank shook his head, “I don’t follow.”

I’m sorry. I know it is complicated. It will mean the person you are, the person you know as yourself, as Frank Rusk, will never have been born. There will be a new soul version of Frank Rusk, and you will have no conscious connection to the old Frank. Every memory of your current life, everything you have lived, will not have happened. Your family, as you know it now, will not have existed.”

Chapter 9

USS
LISCOME BAY
–
MOTION PICTURE PROJECTION ROOM 1800 HOURS

Admiral Mullinnix concluded his opening blessing during the regular Wednesday night meeting of the Deadman’s Club as usual saying, “Give us the strength to put one foot in front of the other each day and let us never, ever, ever forget who we truly are and where we really come from. Amen.”

“Amen,” the men responded in unison.

“Okay, war report,” Mullinnix said as he picked up a manila folder and continued. “Not much has changed in the situation. In fact, nothing has changed in our orders to attack the Japanese mainland. I -”

“Admiral?”

The Admiral, not used to being interrupted, frowned and turned to look at Joe. “Yes, Seaman Rusk?”

“Permission to speak, sir?”

“Always sailor, but I was in the middle of the war report.”

“Yes, sir, its about that.”

Mullinnix shrugged and brought his manila folder down and nodded to Rusk. “What is it?”

Joe’s eyes scanned across the room a moment while he gathered his courage.

“Sir, it’s just that I’ve been talking to some of the guys and, sir, respectfully we should just deep six these orders. The war’s back in California, not here.

Mullinnix nodded and continued to listen knowing Joe had more to say.

“I mean, we went down fighting in the old world. And we got a score to settle with these Japs.”

“And you don’t think attacking Japan is fighting back?”

“No, sir… no, sir, I don’t and you said it yourself, it’s a suicide mission. If I’m gonna die again I want to go down fightin’.”

Other men voiced agreement.

“Fellas, fellas, I know how you feel. I’ve been working on this trying to come up with a plan. I’ve slowed task force speed below ten knots, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by Command. I’d been hoping they’d come to their goddamn senses and recall us; send us to San Diego or Pearl, where we could do some damage. No dice. Two hours ago, they radioed a request to double our speed west.”

“Bullshit.” An unidentified sailor in the back expressed his frustration.

“That’s right, sailor, it is bullshit. I’m shit canning the request. But we’re between a rock and a hard place, boys. And near as I can tell, we’re the only American task force left in the Central Pacific. There has been zero radio traffic from any other allied ship within a thousand miles. We’re it.”

Men hung their heads hearing the situation was near hopeless. No support. No way to get back home and ordered on a suicide mission to Japan. Not a soul in the Deadman’s Club that night could fathom how their situation could possibly get any worse. They could not have been more wrong.