Fourth Vector Ch. 49

"Then how come two steel ships were just firing upon each other?"

Jeb was in the middle of arguing with his brother-in-law, Earl, as they watched the battle from their fishing boat just off the coast of the village of Mobust. The two men were from the smaller village of Tinhurst, just over a few miles to the south of Mobust, and they were prone to this kind of verbal jousting every time they went out in their small boat to the better fishing waters around Mobust, with neither man fully liking the other.

For Jeb, it was because Earl was the quintessential one-upper.

For every fish that Jeb caught, Earl always caught one that was just a tiny bit bigger. For every pay day that he received, Earl always had more money than he did. It also didn't help that Jeb's sister and Earl's wife, Jolene, was one of the prettiest girls in the village, another item that Earl crowed about happily. Jeb's wife, Malinda, wasn't nearly as pretty.

Now, if anyone asked Earl what his problem was with Jeb, Earl would always say that Jeb was a non-stop complainer. He complained about the weather, about his house, about his children, and about his lot in life. Frankly, Jeb thought that he wouldn't have so much to complain about if Earl hadn't constantly been trying to one-up him but that was neither here nor there.

Like several other fishing boats in the harbor, everyone was watching the battle develop offshore, and for many of them, it had been their only exposure to Fourthies.

"Do you think there's any chance the Fourthies might win today?" asked Earl as they watched a cruiser explode in the distance.

Jeb grunted. "They have about as much chance at winning as you do suddenly developing a sense of humility."

Earl shook his head at him before pulling a worm out of his bait box and launching it at Jeb. Jeb scowled as he felt the slimy crawler hit his cheek.

"You do that again, and I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Why don't you try it, skinny? I'll throw your puny ass off this boat without a second thought."

Jeb didn't immediately respond to that statement as he saw something floating in the distance. He squinted his eyes to get a better look.

"What's a matter, Jeb? Cat caught your tongue?"

"Shut up, you idiot. Something's floating out there," said Jeb.

Earl moved to his side of the boat and looked out on the horizon. Sure enough, he started nodding his head too.

"That's not a something, that's a someone! Come on, let's go get them!"

Earl cranked the engine and soon set off in the direction of the floating body, but it soon became apparent that there were many bodies in the same vicinity as they got closer.

Jeb's mouth fell open. "Have you ever seen such a thing? You think all these people died in the battle?"

"Where else would they have come from?" asked Earl with a simple shrug.

"Come on, let's see if we can find any survivors. No use in letting someone who survived that battle drown."

Jeb took over the controls and navigated the boat further out to sea. The battle had largely moved on from this stretch of ocean, and the heavy guns could still be heard to the northeast. It would have been better for these folks in the water if any of them were still alive but the first hundred bodies they found were all dead.

"You think we're wasting our time here?" asked Earl after finding one more dead man in a bloody sailor's uniform.

"Keep searching," said Jeb. "We're bound to find someone."

Finally, they came across some people that were still alive. Many of them had burns and other injuries, but as long as they were out of the water, they would make it. Finally, they managed to fill the boat, and they soon turned around for Mobust (being the closest place to shore) to drop off those that were still alive so they could make another trip.

It was as night was descending on the ocean that they found one face that looked a little familiar.

"What a second," said Jeb, snapping his fingers as Earl pulled a blond-haired man in a fancy uniform out of the water. "Holy shit, that one looks familiar."

Earl gave him a deadpan look. "How many naval officers do you know, Jeb? I swear, you ain't got shit for brains sometimes."

"No, I know that face," muttered Jeb, studying it.

He knew it was familiar. He'd seen it before but where? The giveaway was the blond hair, which was practically non-existent in this part of the world apart from Fourthies. But he knew of one famous blond in Java.

That was when it hit Jeb on who the man was.

"Earl, I know who that is," said a very excited Jeb. "I've seen him before in the newspapers. That's Jack Easterbrook!"

Earl looked at the body and quickly turned back to Jeb. "Are you sure? That would be a big find if so."

"I know it's him," yammered Jeb. "I remember when he was the talk of the whole country after Aberdeen. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing his picture. By god, Earl, that's him all right!"

Earl placed his hand next to Easterbrook's throat. He felt for a pulse for several seconds and then released the grip and shook his head.

"Well, someone's about to be either very upset or very happy because Jack Easterbrook is dead."