The Enemy Below Page #2

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for a ghost echo on these heavy seas.

- The signal does not change, Herr Kapitn.

- Starboard 40 degrees.

- Target's turning sharp starboard, sir.

- Can you estimate the degree, Andrews?

- 40... 45 degrees, Captain.

- All engines stop.

You think it might be a U-boat, sir?

Wiggling like one. He may take the bait.

- If he doesn't, he'll crash-dive.

- Excuse me, sir.

It holds the same place, Herr Kapitn.

Resume course 140.

Yes?

He's on the hook.

He's come back into course 140.

- All engines ahead two-thirds, steer 140.

- Aye aye, sir.

Good, Andrews. The target won't

be satisfied with one check.

Look for him to make a turn.

Or he may slow down

or speed up. Thank you.

- Sir?

- Well?

- Do you wanna send a dispatch, sir?

- Why? Are you anxious to take one?

- No, sir. I just thought...

- We have to keep radio silence tonight.

We might tip our hand to the target.

But I'll get one out in the morning, OK?

Yes, sir.

This is the captain. I guess you're all

waiting for some kind of word.

We're tracking an unidentified ship.

We're going to try to stay

on his tail until morning.

We will breakfast early,

and go to battle stations at 0530.

Don't be surprised if we tangle

with a pig-boat a little after dawn.

Do your jobs efficiently and we'll

chalk one up for the Haynes. That's all.

I reckon we'll just drop an egg

right down his periscope.

That'll be the end

of one more Nazi, huh?

Or he'll just pop a fish right in our guts,

and that'll be the end of this tin can.

- Man, a sub ain't no match for us.

- They ain't?

Then how come they hunt U-boats

with three destroyers

workin' together

up in the North Atlantic?

Yeah. How come?

Your bet.

- Whose watch is next?

- Lieutenant Kunz, Herr Kapitn.

Have him come here.

Lieutenant Kunz, report forward.

You wanted me, Herr Kapitn?

Ja, Kunz.

Yours is the next watch on topside.

We have a signal on the FMB.

I think it's a false echo.

But to check its reaction, you will

zigzag twice an hour until daybreak.

If it moves in closer,

you will awaken me immediately.

Schwaffer.

Come in, Heini.

That Kunz annoys me.

Remind him that we do not salute at sea.

He is new, Herr Kapitn.

He will tire of it.

He is new?

Like our new Germany. A machine.

Herr Kapitn. You think we are wise

in risking that image to be a false echo?

Wise? Expedient.

Time is important, Heini,

and we would travel

too slowly underwater.

In 48 hours, we rendezvous

with Raider M.

We take the captured British code book

and we go home with it.

And this is the important thing.

Not the code book,

but because, when we have it,

we can go home.

Tastes like oil and bilge

and green mold.

Sit down, Heini.

Tastes like a U-boat.

I've been in the U-boats

too long, Heini.

There was a time when

I went to sea with a fresh heart.

That was many years ago.

Now I can only think of going home.

- You want more?

- No more, Herr Kapitn.

You think I take too much?

Just enough to sleep.

I cannot rest without it.

I think too much.

Never think, Heini.

Be a good warrior and never think.

You pay a penalty for thinking.

You cannot rest.

I taught these sons of mine

to be good warriors.

Country. Duty. Ask no question.

One is at the bottom of the sea,

and this one is a cinder

in a burned airplane.

And I'm glad.

That's the way for warriors to die.

Young, and with faith.

I have lived too long.

- We are friends, Heini?

- I have been with you since I was a cadet.

That's not what I asked you.

I do not know.

Sometimes I am afraid of you.

Many times I do not understand you.

- I am not certain we are friends.

- We are friends. Believe that.

We are friends. Because we are friends,

I'll tell you something.

I am sick of this war.

It's not a good war.

You don't remember the first one.

I was a Fhnrich in the U-boats.

And how proud I was!

We went out

in those little sardine tins,

and if we submerged, we couldn't

always be sure we'd come up again.

It was a good game we played.

The captain would look through

his periscope and sight a target,

and then he did arithmetic in his head

and said "Torpedo los."

And you know something? Sometimes

the torpedo wouldn't even leave the tube.

And if it did, we were

most lucky to hit something.

And now I look in the periscope and

it gives me the distance and the speed.

I pass this information

to the attack table,

and the machinery turns and

the lights flash, and we get the answer.

The torpedo runs to its target,

and there's no human error in this.

They've taken human error

out of war, Heini.

They've taken the human out of war.

War was different then.

It put iron in the country's backbone,

gave them brave memory.

And even in defeat, it gave them honor.

There is no honor in this war.

The memories will be ugly,

even if we win.

And if we die,

we die without God.

You know that, Heini?

I listen to what you say, Herr Kapitn.

It's a bad war.

Its reason is twisted.

Its purpose is dark.

It's not for a simple man.

Lieutenant Crain is coming up, sir.

Port side.

What's your best time

on reloading depth charges?

It's not so hot, Captain.

Some of my boys are pretty green,

but I'd say three minutes, or four.

- Well, you've got to do better than that.

- I can try, sir.

That's not good enough.

It might be the difference

between stopping the enemy

and getting stopped ourselves.

If that's the case, sir,

we'll be good enough.

I'll depend on it.

Mr. Ware? I'd like you

to stick with the plot

in the pilot house

for the time being, please.

Aye aye, sir.

Looks like we've run out of the squall.

Yeah.

Why don't you lay

in your cabin for a while?

I'm all right, Doctor.

You getting the feel of a ship again?

Either that, or that pig-boat

out there is strong medicine.

I don't see how you can know

it's the enemy.

Well, call it a sixth sense

if you want to.

I always know when a mind is working

the other end of that radar beam.

Interesting. I've heard

hunters say the same thing.

They can sense the presence of game.

In any case, this is going to be

a disappointed ship if it isn't the enemy.

Yes, they all seem to be

a bloodthirsty crew.

The men would like a chance

to do what they're here for.

Not much other reason for existence.

Not now, anyway.

No, I sometimes wonder

if there ever was another reason.

I know what you mean.

I had a baby clinic up in Ohio.

It was pretty important to me.

Now it seems like something

that happened

on another planet

and in another century.

- What was your work, Captain?

- This. The sea.

- You were a sailor?

- Third officer on a freighter

out of Boston, to Liverpool,

Le Havre, and back again.

Some of our crew will be glad

to know that.

Our saltiest boys were complaining

mightily about getting a civilian skipper.

- Feather merchant, I think they call it.

- Well, I am a feather merchant.

- Well, yes, but not exactly.

- No, exactly.

On the freighter, we were men against

the sea. Here, we're men against men.

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