CHAPTER 6

(Part Two)

Jewfish in the Brain Coral

In the evening Gun woke me up, insisting that I join him on the bridge. “I gotta show you something, remember what you talked about before, those lights in the sky?”

“The ones that appear and disappear?” I jumped up.

Jim was also present on the bridge deck. “I’ve been seeing these things just a month or so. I haven’t said anything to anyone. I don’t want to sound nuts.”

Gun scanned the sky, “We can trust you, Caleb.”

“Yaeh,” Jimmy agreed. “We’re afraid if we tell anyone else they’ll think we’re crazy.”

They made me uncomfortable with their secretiveness but I was a skeptic anyway. I looked around and saw nothing at first. Then, at 8 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 12 o’clock, etc., all in precise positions, there were points of light that resembled a formation, 10 or 15 degrees above the horizon, all around the clock. I said, “Hey, yeah, I see...” It was almost the same thing I’d seen with Ally.

Jim replied, “You ain’t seen nothing. Keep watching.”

Minutes later the lights made sudden movements, Whoosh Up, Whoom, over, right angles, Zoom, Up, Zoom left, Zoom, and, the lights disappeared from sight one by one. We were in a form of shocked amazement.

“So, those could have been jet-helicopters or something,” I stated, truly dumbfounded.

“Well, they’re capable of speeds like a thousand MPH!” Gun replied.

“It’s true. We’re not far from Boca Chica naval base,” said Jimmy.

“It’s a secret government project,” Gun concluded. “Like Jimmy thought.”

“Laser beams,” I suggested. “Like a light show, they have those.”

Gun thought out loud, “Or, un-manned vehicles with some type of new Laser Propulsion. Or, some Ion thing.”

“Hah! Laser Propulsion!” Jimmy laughed his crotchety way. “No such thing. Some Ion thing, maybe.”

“I don’t know, don’t they have lasers for everything these days?” said Gun.

I felt like playing it down. “Not for that… But, what do I know… Maybe,” I wondered out loud. “Looks like they’re gone. It’s a secret weapon they’re cooking up.” I tried to sound almost bored about whatever it could be. “Nothing to get excited about. See you tomorrow, I’m going below.”

“Hey, kid, by the way, thanks for helping me out there today,” Jim said.

“Na-ah, no problem. You were fine.”

“A-agh, we both know, I probably wasn’t going to make it.” Jim looked over at Gun, then out at the foamy sea.

“Nah, maybe you’d have gone unconscious for a minute while they rescued you but you would have been saved for sure. The Coast Guard was there.”

“He’s right,” Gun agreed.

It seemed like Jim also wanted to agree with my being a non-factor in his survival, but instead, he said, “I’ve looked better. But, what about those girls aboard The Rapture, eh?” He cackled out an old-man laugh. “They were worth it, weren’t they? My fault for wanting a better look at them. Agh…women, what can you do?”

“Yeah, that was a boatload of smart beautiful girls.”

“Scientists. A dozen top women scientists,” Jim reminded us unnecessarily.

“Yeah, scientists allright—sex-ologists or something!” Gun cracked us all up.

As soon as Jim retired and Gun was alone with me, he remarked, “Yeah, the trip before Jimmy poops on deck. This trip he can’t handle the currents. Hmm, maybe I should talk to him.”

“If you care...yeah.” I was also going to mention the skiff incident but it wasn’t necessary. Gazing at the sparkling huge sea and the lighting storms far away, I pointed out, “When I put Carl’s fascination with high-tech stuff plus Jimmy’s interest in future weapons and those women scientists together with what we just saw, this has all the ingredients for one hell of a spy novel.”

“That it does,” he replied, and smiled.

I didn’t mention overhearing that secret talk he had with Carl, either.

For the rest of the night 360 degrees around us blazed spectacular lightning storms shooting halfway up the sky—there was some intense shit going on in the atmosphere!

***