Against the Sun Page #4

We got company.

Must be all the blood in the water.

I've heard they can smell it for miles.

What do we do?

Well, for starters...

I say we cancel the swimming program.

- What's the matter?

- I got bit!

Cease fire! Cease fire!

Let me see. Let me see.

Oh, Ge...

It's three teeth marks at least.

One nail's ripped off.

Oh, Gene.

Here, Chief.

Well, I've heard of fishing by hand,

but that's ridiculous.

Is it bad?

We'll get a better look

at it in the morning.

- Keep pressure on it.

- Okay.

What do they call us, Chief?

What?

Missing in action or... what?

Lost at sea.

That's how they carried us.

Lost at sea.

No trace of aircraft

or personnel is found.

Our Father, who art in heaven...

hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on Earth...

The two bright stars there?

Tony?

Give me the gun.

Give it to me.

Gene, I wasn't...

Wanna eat or not?

I got him! I got him!

- Great shot.

- I got him!

Hey, Chief, no!

- Attaboy, Chief.

- Come on, Chief!

You got it.

Good work, Chief!

- Oh, sh*t.

- What's that?

Double time, Chief.

- Come on, Chief!

- Come on. Come on!

- Sh*t, it's jammed. It's jammed.

- What? No!

Come on!

Faster, Chief!

Come on, Chief! Come on!

- You're almost there.

- Come on!

Look at the size of him.

It ain't bad.

Could use cheese.

I said it could use cheese.

Tastes like chicken, raw chicken.

So I thought when you saw a bird,

it means you're near land.

Not this bird.

They range for thousands of miles.

I still can't believe

you shot an albatross.

Why?

Never mind.

Tony, come on, eat up.

I don't blame you.

I'd leave if I could, too.

Pastula, take another drift sight.

That's not how I'm reading those wave tops.

Pastula?

Aldrich! We've lost Pastula!

- ...nowhere, Chief. We're lost.

- Aldrich!

Enterprise, this is 6-tare-12.

No, check that, 6-tare-14

requesting an inbound bearing.

Enterprise!

Enterprise! Help me!

There's no watch.

All hands on deck.

I gave orders...

to maintain a 24-hour watch...

- and you're sleeping on duty.

- What difference does it make?

If that wind shifts,

and we don't deploy our anchor,

- we lose ground, Aldrich.

- I don't feel any wind, Chief.

It's 'cause there ain't any.

It's been dead for two days.

Shut your mouth! Just shut your mouth!

I ordered a watch.

There will be a watch.

Sure, Chief.

Whatever you say.

- I'll take the watch.

- No, you won't, Tony.

You want a damn watch so bad?

Why don't you sit here

staring at nothing all day?

- I do my share. More.

- What's that supposed to mean?

Who do you think is navigating

this ship? Are you?

Then where are these islands

you told us about?

Yeah.

- It must be close, right?

- Don't you touch that!

You boys, you can't even swim,

much less read a map.

Let me ask you something?

How'd you come up with that chart

of yours anyway?

I... I studied the area map

in the ready room every day.

I have a rough picture of it in my mind,

plus or minus 10%, I'm hoping for.

After that, it's simple dead reckoning!

A rough picture?

Dead reckoning works when you know

where you're starting from, right?

So this route you figured,

it's based on where you think

we went down,

followed by a bunch of estimates

after that in where we've gotten each day.

- What's your point?

- My point?

The reason we went down is because...

you didn't know

where we were to start with.

- Now hold on...

- That's why we couldn't find the ship.

That's why I couldn't

raise her on the radio.

You had gotten us so far off,

we were out of range.

- I tried to take that into account.

- And that's with instrument's and a real map!

And here we've gone all these days

without so much as a compass.

In the first couple of days,

we hardly kept track,

and you're gonna put us on some

teeny islands in the middle of all this.

- I...

- All a big guess, ain't it, Chief?

Now listen... yes, yes, yes.

I'm relying on my recall.

I may have made

a few estimates, but I...

I was trying to head us

dead center to these islands

- so even if we were off somewhat...

- What do you mean was trying?

When are you expecting to see 'em?

It's...

three days ago.

Or four.

There should be islands

all around us by now.

We missed them.

We missed them.

That's the way islands are, Tony,

didn't you know?

You raise them and they're passed.

It's a one-chance deal.

- You miss Hawaii, next stop, Tokyo.

- Now you listen to me...

It's dead reckoning, all right,

'cause I reckon we're dead out here.

Do you wanna take over? Smart mouth?

- Guys, please...

- I don't give a God damn!

And you're Mr. High and Mighty,

keeping your shoes

after we've thrown ours away,

and you're all over me about the radio

like I had missed something!

"What did Aldrich do with the radio?"

And you're all over Tony

about this drift sighting

because he got the same read

on both legs.

Well, what the hell

were you doing up there?

Besides getting us lost on the biggest body

of water in the whole damn world?

Chief, I've lost the beacon. Over.

Are we close, Chief?

Maybe his com is down.

I'll give him a tap.

Chief, can you hear us? Over.

Loud and clear, boys.

Just waiting for this wind to tell me

which way she wants to blow.

I think I fell asleep.

It was so hot... up there.

I... it couldn't have been more

than a couple of minutes but...

So we missed the turn.

- By the time that we made it...

- It was way too late.

I got us lost.

And I don't know how to square it

with you boys, ever.

I can't.

I'm a pilot...

who lost his plane...

and his crew...

and myself.

I'm terribly sorry.

I'm terribly sorry, men.

I'm sorry.

This map ain't much.

But it's the only thing

we got to get us home.

It looks like the only wind

we're generating is our own, fellas.

I reckon so.

That is exactly what we need to do.

- Where are my shoes?

- Oh, here we go.

No, no.

Give me your knife.

Please give me your knife.

Okay.

Gentlemen?

Let's make our own wind.

Tell you what,

whoever sees land first gets dinner.

Anything he wants, anywhere he wants,

the other two will buy.

Deal.

Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.

You won't find that funny

in a few minutes.

Hen-Ry.

Put on...

the pot.

Okay. Let's get to it.

Gene.

Either of you... know insurance?

Insurance?

Life insurance.

I have a $5,000 policy

to go to my mother.

I was wondering

if she was able to collect.

After a whole month... I imagine so.

I wonder how Irene's getting along.

She sounds like a real nice girl.

She works for a doctor now.

You said that.

I used to write her poetry.

We'd sure like to hear

one of those poems.

That's right.

Give us a poem.

Tony?

Feel that, boys?

We might be getting a drink.

It's a strange one.

Earhart. You know that woman flyer?

Amelia Earhart.

She went down in these parts, right?

Here it comes.

That was chilly.

Another shower?

I don't like it.

Clouds are moving

in opposite directions. What is it?

Get ready.

We're gonna have to bail fast.

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