“I don’t think this one is going to make the same mistakes.”
“No,” said Nagata.
His gaze drifted to the island of Oahu. His mind racing, he said, “Let’s see if we can take him somewhere he doesn’t want to go, and hit him somewhere he doesn’t want to be hit.” He looked to Nagata for approval, but Nagata just appeared puzzled. This actually pleased Hopper—he was one step ahead of Nagata. This was shaping up to be a good day after all. “Miss Raikes.”
“Sir?”
“What time is sunrise?” He exchanged looks with Nagata, and this time it was clear that he was now on Hopper’s wavelength. Nagata didn’t smile—that would have been too much—but the edges of his mouth actually seemed to twitch ever so slightly.
Raikes, not sure why it was of that much relevance, checked her chronometer. “At 0553,” she said briskly.
“Okay.” He clicked back on the radio. “CIC to engineering. Beast, you said twenty minutes?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine. Meet me on the bridge in twenty-one minutes.”
“Aye, sir,” came Beast’s voice, but he sounded as confused as Raikes.
Moments later Hopper and Nagata were heading up to the bridge at a brisk pace. As they did so, Nagata startled Hopper by saying, “Why?”
“Why what?”
“You are all that your brother was and more. So why do you act as if you were so much less? Why such self-destructive behavior?”
He glanced at Nagata as they walked and then laughed softly. “Do you have any idea how many people have asked me that?”
“Not really, no.”
“It was rhetorical.” He paused and then said, as they continued to move, “When Stone and I were kids, I was better than he was at… well, lots of things. School. Athletics. Strategic thinking. Everything. And I loved rubbing it in his face, because I was a typically obnoxious kid brother. And one day we were in the woods near our house, playing some game… I don’t even remember what it was… and he just got fed up. He stalked off and I ran after him, shouting and being snide. Suddenly the ground went right out from under me and I fell straight down a hill, which sent me tumbling into a river. Got knocked cold by a branch and the water just started carrying me downstream. I’d’ve drowned, no question. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital. Stone had jumped in and swam after me and pulled me out. And what woke me up was my father shouting at Stone. Telling him it was all his fault. That it was his job to watch out for me. And I thought, Son of a bitch, he saved my stupid life and he’s the one getting his ass chewed. And that was it.”
Nagata looked at him, confused. “What was it? That was what?”
“I swore I would never do anything to make Stone look bad again. That he’d be the hero of the family. Because I might have been better at all this stuff that, in the end, doesn’t matter… but he was the better person. And he deserved to have the world recognize that.”
“That is… very noble of you.”
“Thanks.”
“But I would point out that it doesn’t explain your obvious rage issues. Your tendency to solve problems with your fists. Your knack for self-destructive behavior.”
“What are you getting at?” said Hopper suspiciously.
“Simply that, at some level, you hated the decision you made. That you likely resented your brother for that decision, even though you’re the one who made it. You’re suffering from misplaced aggression. You really wanted to lash out at your brother or your father, but since you didn’t dare, you lashed out at others… including me.”
“Yeah, well… you had it coming.”
“Fortunately, you hit like a girl.”
Hopper stopped in his tracks and stared at Nagata, who simply stood there with one eyebrow raised.
Then Hopper laughed. Nagata’s face never moved a muscle.
Hopper started walking again, Nagata falling in step behind him. “Whatever, man. Hell, the only reason I told you any of this was because we’ll probably both be dead by noon anyway.”
“That’s very comforting.”
“‘Rage issues.’ ‘Misplaced aggression.’ Jeez. What were you, a psychiatrist before you joined the Navy?”
“No. But my mother’s one.”
“She is?”
“Don’t get me started on my mother,” said Nagata.
Hopper didn’t.
Once on the bridge, Hopper spread out navigation charts on the wide table and started tracing a line from their present location toward the island that was the target of his developing strategy. Nagata stood to one side of the table, Beast on the other.
“When we round this point can you hold her here tight? Just off Diamond Head?” Hopper said to Beast.
Beast studied it and was obviously running calculations through his head. “It ain’t gonna be easy. There’s an ass crack of a current in there. We get on its bad side, we’re gonna need a proctologist to pull us out.”
“Then it’s elbows and assholes all around.” Hopper tapped the link and called up the CIC. “How close is the stinger to us?” he said as soon as he raised Raikes.
“Seven miles and closing fast,” her voice came back. She was trying to sound unconcerned, as if an oncoming, swiftly approaching and seriously pissed-off alien vessel was just another day at the office.
Hopper shifted his attention back to Beast. “No kidding around. Can you do it?” asked Hopper.
“I can try,” said Beast. “Sir, I don’t get it…”
I can try wasn’t good enough. “Can you do it?”
Beast wasn’t going to promise something he couldn’t deliver. He stared at the map, at the area of the current, and he started to mutter a string of numbers. Hopper realized Beast was running engine revolutions through his head, making calculations. Finally he nodded. “I can do it.”
Hopper wanted to sigh in relief, but he kept it to himself. Instead, he turned to Nagata. “Captain Nagata, how’s your aim?”
Nagata nodded slowly. “Excellent.”
Hopper looked back at Beast, who appeared somewhat dubious for some reason. “Problem, Beast?”
“Permission not to be the one who has to tell Raikes that Captain Nagata will be handling guns… no offense,” he added quickly to Nagata.
“We’re going to need her behind the 5-inch,” Hopper said. “I have something else planned for Captain Nagata. Now get down to CIC and get us heading in the right direction. Leave the rest to me.”
“Yes sir,” said Beast.
Nagata watched as Beast headed off. “He is not sure what you have in mind. But he does not question.”
“Of course not. That’s not his job.”
“Yes. His job is to obey you. And your job is to issue those orders.”
“Are you telling me my job, Captain Nagata?”
“No,” said Nagata mildly. “It is simply a pity that your brother is not able to see you do it.”
“Yeah,” said Hopper. “Just think. If I hadn’t made the decision I did, it might well have been me on the Sampson. And Stone would still be alive.”
Nagata studied him and then said, “You are blaming yourself for your brother’s death.” When Hopper didn’t respond, Nagata continued, “That is foolishness. You did not kill your brother.” His voice hardened. “They killed him. And yes, I will tell you your job now. Your job is to make them all pay. Do not lose sight of that.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. As for your survival… I suspect, Alex Hopper, that you would have managed to survive the Great Flood.”
“We may yet have the chance to find out.”
The human vessel is fleeing.
They are under the impression that they can forestall the inevitable.