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“Yes Better to proceed with caution in this weather than race to the bottom”

Theinstru on radar?”

Hashimoto shook his head and then braced hi wave reared out of the darkness and broke against the boith startling ferocity He stole a glance at the arue—and so dark that caused Hashimoto a flutter of anxiety, an unfamiliar sensation for the battle-hardened veteran The man’s eyes looked like one of the classical illustrations of an oni, a de to er seven years old and had seen real-world devils since the war had started; he had no need for belief in the mythical past

He was turning to ask the officer what he could do for him when the

ship shuddered like it had run aground, and then everyone on the bridge was yelling as alarms sounded

“What’s going on?” the officer demanded

“I don’t know” The captain didn’t want to speak his darkest fear out loud

“Did we hit so?”

Hashi to hit We’re in nine thousand feet of water” He paused as a junior officer approached with a pallid face and gave a grim report Hashimoto nodded and issued a terse instruction, then turned back to the army man “I’m afraid we must prepare for an unpleasant possibility I need to ask you to go below and follow the eency instructions that are issued”

“What?”

Hashihed “It appears that a repaired area of the hull has split open We’re going to do everything we can, but it’s uncertain whether the pumps can keep up If not, we may have to abandon ship”

The officer’s face went deathly white “In this?” He stared through the glass at the storm

“We’ll know soon enough Hopefully, we can control the dae” He looked away “Please Leave me to my duty”

The arrimly He turned andwave crashed into the port bow, causing the ship to list alarly

Hashi his crew to take all possible ht, but in the end the fury of the sea proved too much As the dark waves continued their assault and the last of the bridge lights flickered off, the vessel’s heavy steel hull now an anchor as it sank, his thoughts drifted to his wife, Yuki, and his one-year-old son—the son hom he’d only spent a few short hours while on leave and who he’d never see grow into a man