New Homeport Island (14 page)

In the wardroom the captain continued his dissertation,
“Through the course of our search for our ship five point oh
 sailor we discovered evidence that there may be a shipboard
 gang. Everytime we complemented a sailor on their performance
 we were met with hostility and vulgarities, you know telling us
 to ‘go fuck ourselves’ and in one case I was told ‘you have an
 interesting way of making enemies’, they’ve been getting
 harassed and their personal lives have been…‘Molested’ is the
 word they used, they’re girlfriends er, boyfriends in the case of
 the females have been manipulated in very damaging ways. It
 seems once we deemed them worthy of consideration as our first
‘perfect’ sailor everyone attacked them, some looking to knock
 them out of the running and according to these few selected
 sailors some just wanted to be able to say ‘I made him what he is
 today’.”
Ensign Swishzel interjected, “We had a problem like that in
 engineering when we tried to find a candidate for the command
 advancement program, sir. Good worker, good work ethic and
 relatively well liked by his coworkers but truly hates this job and
 the way we do it.” Artimus replied, “And where did we transfer
 that guy to?” Swishzel and Clarkson replied simultaneously,
“Here.” Swishzel continued, “We T.A.D.’d him for a few days
 and thought we could get a fresh start…just pissed him off even
 more.” Artimus cocked his head and then had a revelation, “Oh
 god, him…he isn’t one of these prospective five point oh’s is
 he?” Clarkson replied, “Yes, sir. And it’s still all bad.” Artimus
 said, “Jesus. Make sure he doesn’t end up in these! He damn
 near thought I was a stalker the last time.”    
Mr. Mormus raised his hand and the captain nodded and sat
 down. Mormus stood up cupping his hands together at waist
 level and said, “The ship board gang is a real threat and they

have avoided detection, apparently all of these selectees have
 been targeted, but in a couple of those cases those particular
 sailors wouldn’t intimidated by any sailors on this ship with only
 the possible exception of themselves, it’s a very good group we
 have selected there. There is one lead however, the crew is
 calling it ‘lavender’ and we will follow up on that.” Mr. Mormus
 sat down.      
Ensign Spayner asked, “They used a code name? I thought
 shipboard gangs we’re just like street gangs.” Ensign Lees
 coughed loudly and asked, “Should I stand up?” Artimus
 scratched his left eye brow and spoke toward the table with
 some irritation, “I don’t know should you?” Spayner interjected,
“You stupid son of a bitch, let me guess your code name
Lavender.” Lees was the self-centered egotistical type always
 the elitists and always looking for his chance to bait someone in
 to looking improper or just plain screwing up, but he reacted
 uncharacteristically in this case by looking back at her and
 responding much as the enlisted in his division would have. He
 retorted, “Shut up bitch! Please...” he looked around the room as
 his irritation faded into embarrassment with the red in his face
 never getting the chance to subside. He added, “I know what
 lavender is, one or two of my guys used it before I realized what
 it was and I set them straight…” Captain Artimus interjected,
“This may be something we need to discuss in private.” Lees
 responded with a little shock at the captain’s interjection and
 said, “No sir, I can handle it. I didn’t know what it was either so
I…” Captain Artimus interjected again holding up his palm in a
 stop gesture and said, “We will discuss this in private first.”
Lees feeling awkwardly outed as socially irrelevant actually
 whined out the utterance, “but, sir…I…”

Artimus slammed his fist down on the desk and yelled, “Look
 punk, if you admit to any criminal doings here and now then
 your ass will be in the brig! You have rights I suggest you use
 them!” Every face in the wardroom went pale the captain seeing
 that went pale himself.  
In the chiefs mess Chief Brosuer was returning from the
 vending machine and passing out stale doughnuts from the spare
 locker in the chiefs berthing. Chief Brosuers was ‘A real
 missiles guy, I launch them all the time!’ he would say anytime
 he met someone new and at the conclusion of their meeting he
 made a point of singing a sea chantey as he walked away. He
 tossed a small bag of doughnuts to chief Casius and just as they
 bounced from her hand and hit the deck there was a loud
 slamming sound. Casius asked, “Do I get the heavy ones
 because I’m the only girl at the party?” Brosuer replied with a
 trill in his voice, “No, but you catch like a girl” then pointed at
Chief Carl and asked, “What was that?” Chief Carl looked
 stunned and said, “I didn’t hear anything.” Chief Brosuer
 retorted, “Then how’d you know I was talking about a sound?”      
             Over the 2JV in central was heard, “Central, Aux
 one…we think the A.C. just seized up but it’s still running.” said
EN3 Mier. In central Hudlow looked for the 2JV mic saying,
“That couldn’t have been from aux one.”  Orbly picked up the
2JV mic and handed tried to hand it to Hudlow saying, “Here”
Hudlow continued looking responding with, “That’s not what
I’m looking for.” Orbly asked, “What are you looking for?”
Hudlow replied, “The 1MC mic.” Orbly said, “Let me know
 when you find it.”  Hudlow said, “Oh wait I need the 2JV mic.”
 and he started looking for that.
In Aux one EN3 Gruble climbed over number one high
 volume air conditioning unit looking for any signs of damage.

EN2 River looked underneath for any leaks, as he crawled under
 the AC he heard an ‘ouch’ from above he asked, “Did you hurt
 yourself Tommi?” Gruble replied, “I slipped and landed on this
 cable post…it damn near went up my ass.” River asked, “You
 alright?” Gruble replied, “I don’t need a doctor but I may cry for
 a few minutes”
The ship listed heavily to the portside, nearly twenty
 degrees and remained at that angle for nearly two minutes then
 shifted slightly back to the starboard side reducing the list to
 twelve degrees but still rocking port to starboard. The list
 indicators in central and on the bridge showed the bubble
 swinging slowly between twelve degrees portside to eighteen
 degrees on the portside.  
With this list Captain Artimus remained higher than anyone
 else in the room and they appeared to be leaning back away
 from him in awe, his many years in the navy led to the rocking
 of the ship to be something that he would subconsciously
 dismiss but the apparent change in the demeanor of those
 looking up to him in the wardroom brought a smile to his face
 that he couldn’t suppress. He stood there grinning from ear to
 ear as he explained, “As we route out this shipboard gang and
 free up our five point oh sailors to claim their rewards the ship
 will be better than it ever has been before. We may have to get a
 little pushy with the whole crew but after we’ve succeeded
 they’ll thank us for it.” Artimus stood there at the highest point
 on the pitched deck still grinning already smelling the
 accomplishments he envisioned.  
The bow dipped in and scooped up some water, the
 standard there is fairly straight forward, foam is just a little
 water, blue water is about as much in an Olympic size pool and
 then there’s green water, ‘green water’ is a lot of water. As the

green water rolled over the foc’sle the ship shuddered with a
 thud and then the entire ship lunged forward as if pushed by a
 wave.
The sea’s stayed rough for the next two days as the ship
 headed south west more than a thousand miles from the coast of
 southern Mexico. The weather was fair and the ocean didn’t
 show any sign of how violent the waters had become, but the
 ship was in a tortuous throw. Green water across the decks had
 resulted in the weather decks secured and made off limits.
The USS Paul F Foster had been built in Pascagoula
Mississippi in the early nineteen seventies, construction began
February sixth nineteen seventy three and the ship was launched
 on the twenty second of February nineteen seventy four. It was
 listed as a united states navy ship and commissioned as of the
 twenty first of February nineteen seventy six. The ship had been
 a home and duty station to over a thousand navy service
 members for twenty years. Upon its decks walked the future of
America and now she was in need. The ocean, given time will
 claim all it can reach and fate had been tempted far too long by
 this grey girl.
The hull began to rumble as the ship cut the seas; the crew
 was unaware of any danger. The beams began to sing and the
 intercostal girders provided the percussion, pipe hangers
 resonated like tuning forks and then like cello strings. It was six
 p.m.  

Chapter Four
Leviathan
The sea was dark and cold the sun had set only moments
 before and I scanned the horizon for the life rafts, they are
 designed to pop up once the ship has gone down. I struggled to
 remember how long I had been in the water and what happened
 as I left the ship.
All I could recall was seeing a whale or a submarine
 beneath me under the water in realizing it was diving and that
 was pulling me down, there were air bubbles I swam toward as a
 crushing pressure caused my ears to ring. Once I reached the
 bubbles they seemed to just hang there, but the pressure and
 ringing in my ears subsided, apparently this is how I die. All at
 once the bubbles started moving up at a faster pace than I could
 keep up with and I realized the bubbles and I had been rising all
 along. As the pressure subsided the bubbles grew larger until the
 popped into smaller bubbles. At one point I actually swam down
 to get into a bubble and managed a single hissing breath, ready
 to spit out any water I inhaled, so I chanced another breath as I
 kept my pace with the rising bubble. Once it popped I figured I
 must be about to break the surface, as it turned out I was wrong
 by at least one hundred feet. I swam as hard as I could in
 spiraling patterns looking for an up current and glanced down to
 look for more bubbles. The only bubbles rising looked to be a
 football field’s length away and three hundred feet down. That’s
 when the dark thing swam away. Once I broke the surface I
 looked for the ship and didn’t see anything, I had been
 abandoned, left alone in the middle of the ocean. I felt betrayed
 and cursed, I realized I never got along with anyone in that back

stabbing crew, and had made a fatal mistake joining the navy. I
 would die alone on the ocean.  
I recalled a particularly bad sinus headache I had in my
 teen years and how I feel asleep floating on my back in the pool
 seeking some relief from the pain and concluded I could float
 for three days. As I went through these emotional throws and
 realizations it occurred to me I had been hearing someone
 yelling, “Help!” just as they slipped under the water again. I
 looked around and saw Athena Williams and Chief Casius,
Athena was yelling for help as chief Casius was treading water,
 and repeating over and over again, “son of a bitch…son of a
 bitch…”
I swam to Athena and pulled her from under her arms into a
 back stroke, Athena said, “Oh shit…oh shit” I replied, “Don’t
 panic, you have to float…” Casius interjected, “she doesn’t
 know how to tread water she’s dead and so are they!” as she
 pointed at a crowd doing the same as us. I repeated loudly,
“Don’t panic…you have to floated on your back with your arms
 interlaced.” Athena uttered, “Ya, fucking right” and she saw
 others that seemed to be struggling to swim and said, “Take us
 over there, please…take us over there, don’t let go, don’t let
 go.” I swam us toward them and yelled for Casius to join us. I
 said, “Chief! Get over here and stop treading water you’re going
 to exhaust yourself!” A female voice yelled out, “That’s what
 we’re supposed to do asshole!” I replied, “Congratulations
 you’re now on the Coast Guard standard…the navy standard just
 sunk its own god damn ship!” It was Mulner’s voice I heard
 earlier and she then said, “What’s the coast guard standard?” I
 replied, “We’ll interlace our arms and float on our backs taking
 turns sleeping! But please god someone tell me you see a life

raft!!” Mulner replied, “I don’t know if I can float, what about
 the waves?” I said, “It’s just a waterbed.”
It was Hudlow nearby I heard say, “It’s …just a water…
 bed” with chattering teeth and he flipped over on to his back. I
 called out, “Is anyone else rescue swimming right now?” A
 voice I couldn’t recognize called back, “No, these guys are
 drowning.”  
I drifted in and out of consciousness and that was all I
 could recall and it was so surreal I had hoped it was a nightmare,
 so much more likely that Captain ‘Douchebag’ threw me in the
 water himself. But I recall waking to a starry night sky to
 quivering voices playing ‘Marco-polo’ but that was the positive.
The negative was hearing an echoing voice as I rouse to
 consciousness, “This guy just died.” echoing over and over and I
 blurted out, “I’m not dead I’m asleep.”  As I awoke it was
 morning I saw us chained together through our arms, mine were
 numb; as the waves rolled under us I saw how many of us were
 daisy chained together, it was as if the whole crew had
 survived…people I only knew from where they sat on the mess
 decks and people I knew from personal interaction, a crew of
 two hundred and eighty-six. I called out, “Anyone seen a life
 raft?”  The reply was another unfamiliar voice but then my ears
 had been underwater for quite some time, he said, “No dude, it’s
 been days.” I glanced around and made sure the people I was
 with, Williams and Casius were still alive. There was a rumor of
 dolphins with us, but the portal sound they heard was what I saw
 come from some of the crew as the wave rolled under them; at
 the crest of the swell is when you slightly submerge and while in
 the troth it may as well be a swimming pool.  
I was in and out of consciousness repeatedly for what I was
 told were days, it’s as if once I woke my circulation increased