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Poaiwa, Shipwreck Beach, Lanai, Hawaii, Earth
November 23rd, 2035
Terry surfaced and shook the water from his hair before pulling his mask back and orienting himself toward Krispin. The Saturday afternoon skies were growing darker, hinting at possible rain. Doc was sitting on the diving platform, skinning one of the uku, or gray snapper, they’d caught. Yui surfaced next to him. Part of the YOGN 42 wreck was just poking out of the water, and they’d been exploring the superstructure. Doc had caught the fish and surfaced a minute before the two kids, first making sure they were clear of the wreck.
“Find anything?” he called as they paddled toward the boat.
“Yui found a plate,” Terry said. She held up the item, half barnacles, half tarnished steel. “I struck out.” Terry sighed and shook water out of his eyes. He wished he’d found something interesting or that the fun had gone on longer. He didn’t want it to end, because he’d have to give Yui the bad news.
“YOGN 42 is just a junk pile,” Doc admitted, flipping guts into the water. “It’s got a big open superstructure, so it’s fun to dive in.” YOGN 42 was the resting remains of a WWII liberty ship. When the war had ended, instead of scrapping it, the military had simply grounded the ship and left it to rust.
“Yeah, it was cool,” Yui agreed. “It’s like a haunted castle or something.”
The two young people reached the platform as Doc finished cutting up the uku. He helped them as they handed up their tanks and flippers, then the kids got themselves up onto the platform. As Doc gathered up the fillets, Terry watched small reef fish helping themselves to the uku remains.
A few minutes later, they were sitting on Krispin’s transom as Doc fanned the coals to white and put the fillets on a grill. Yui and Terry sipped bottles of Coke, enjoying the cold sweetness. Doc had a beer.
“Do you believe they’re talking about making it illegal?” Doc said, pointing at the bottles with a spatula.
“Coke? Why Coke?” Terry asked.
“Not Coke specifically,” Doc said, flipping a fillet and checking its doneness. “The sugar in it.”
“I like sugar,” Yui said. Terry nodded and took a big drink, making an over-exaggerated “Ahhh!”
“Of course you do,” Doc said. “It tastes good because Humans were programmed over a million years of evolution to crave it.”
“Then why do they want to make it illegal?” Terry asked.
“Because some people abuse it. They get overweight, and then they get heart disease, which kills them.”
“So, that means I don’t get sugar?” Terry asked. Doc nodded. “Why?”
“Some people think if someone abuses a thing, nobody should have it.”
“That’s stupid,” Terry replied.
“That’s government,” Doc said, “and a certain political ideology,” he said under his breath.
“What was that?” Yui asked.
“Nothing. Fish is done!”
They spent an hour eating on the small inset chairs up on the flying bridge. Doc microwaved some rice and vegetable packages to go with the uku, and Terry loved the taste. Fresh seafood was something he loved about Hawaii. He liked hamburgers more, but those were expensive on the islands.
“Doc,” Terry said as he chased a last bit of fish with a plastic fork.
“Yeah, kid?”
“Why didn’t you tell us you were a Navy SEAL?” Yui looked up, quietly listening. “And please don’t say we never asked.”
Doc laughed and shook his head. “Well, you didn’t ask.” Terry threw his fork at Doc, who caught it. He sighed. “Look, being a SEAL was a big part of my life. I had a grandfather who was one of the first. From the moment I was old enough to be a SEAL, I wanted to be one. Having the trident punched on my chest was the single greatest moment of my life.” Terry looked confused. Doc held up a hand. “Some other time.”
“Anyway,” he continued after taking a sip of his beer, “we were being inserted during the attack on Iran. A ‘target of opportunity,’ they called it. If everything went right, we’d get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while the aliens were kicking the shit out of the jihadis.” He shrugged. “It didn’t go right.”
“What happened?” Yui asked.
Doc looked at them for a long time, thinking. He seemed to come to a decision. “I knew going off to the stars to fight those alien bastards was a mistake. Only I wasn’t conscious enough to tell anyone at the time. By the time I was, it was too damned late.” He drained the beer and tossed the bottle into a can on deck. “You want to know why I’m teaching MST? Because I think I can help some kids make the right decision, or at least keep them from making the wrong decision.”
The three sat in the lengthening afternoon light and watched the clouds heading in from the west. Doc looked over at the controls. Terry could see him thinking about how long it would take to get back to Molokai, and wondering if they could beat the storm. He got up to put away the grill, and the kids pitched in, securing everything. In a few minutes, Krispin was roaring to the north, toward Molokai.
“We diving again next week?” Yui asked.
“Sure,” Doc said. “I have weekends free for quite some time.”
“I can’t,” Terry said. Yui and Doc both looked at him in surprise.
“Work with your parents?” Doc wondered.
“No.” Terry tried to think of a way to explain it that wouldn’t be as hard as it felt. He couldn’t think of one. “Mom, Dad, and some of the scientists are going on an expedition to contact wild humpback whales. They’re hoping to validate theories about cetacean society.” He looked at Yui. “I have to go to the mainland and stay with an aunt until they get back.”
“How long will it be?” she asked. Her eyes were wide with surprise and hurt.
“I’ll be back in time for school next fall.”
“Oh,” she said. Yui got up and went down below, into the trawler’s cabin.
Doc looked after her, then at Terry, who was looking off into the distance toward Molokai. Rain began to fall as they motored toward home.
* * * * *
