Ah, the Ganges Delta. It's served Bengal for many a century...
Across its waters, a Mizo junk sails. It's lateen sails are so sepia...
Mizo lanterns hang from most of the boat's rigging. It's not New Year's...but it is SO much so to the couple that sails these waters tonight...
In the muddy delta waters, river dolphins court one another. They may be Old World...but they're very much like their oceanic kin. And out here, they're very CLOSE to their oceanic kin. Somewhere south of here, the mud fades, and the shallows of the Bay of Bengal begin...
This junk has gotten a little too close to that line. Even so, the man aboard loves taking risks.
James Case has met a local Mizo babe. She's a bit Han and a bit Burmese...as the most conservative of Mizos are bred. And in the orchards of Mizoram, there are many conservative Mizo families. They're Christian...which is what makes the worst of them racist against their Bengali Muslim neighbors, their communist Chinese kin, and their Buddhist Myanma neighbors/kin.
But out here, Yuan-yuan can take a break from all that. Tonight, it's all about her, James, the lotuses, and the susu dolphins.
In the skipper's cabin, James and Yuan-yuan make sweet love. They've had wine. Candles and Mizo lanterns are lit everywhere. There are water-filled pots, with lotus blossoms floating in them.
Ah, the flat chest of a Mizo girl. Nothing like it... Except maybe the flat chest of a Chinese chick. But of course, James would NEVER tell Yuan-yuan that.
Tonight is perfect. It couldn't get any better. Really.
From everywhere, ninjas break in. James leaps from the berth, as if expecting them. He dodges every sai, bo staff, katana, and nunchuk all the way from the berth to where he keeps his gun.
It's been taken, of course. James must now fight them, unarmed...
In the commotion, Yuan-yuan dons ninja attire, and joins the assault against Agent 7. Devious is a Mizo girl...
James trips a ninja, and nicks his bo staff. With it, he puts up a good fight against the ninjas. Even so, they tree him, high on the mast. In the commotion, many Mizo lanterns and candles fall over.
The boat's on fire. Now there's a time crunch, if James won't be able to assume fire control on time...
Seeing an opportunity, the ninjas start to abandon ship. James comes down off the mast, and chases them...
He stops short, when one of them spins around, and stabs him through the right side of the chest. (James's right.)
Through a mask, the ninja narrows her eyes. No mistake; those are Yuan-yuan's eyes he's looking into. James manages to nicker, despite his injury. She blows him a kiss, pulls the sword out of him, and flees with the others.
James falls on the deck, dying. With luck, this might not be the end for James. He reaches into his briefs, and examines what gadgets Q has left for him in there...
Around him, the junk keeps burning. All the ninja's are gone. The ship splits in two, from port to starboard. James is marooned on the ship's stern.
Both halves sink into the Delta. The mast falls over, and gradually sinks with them. Some of it's on fire. In some spots, the sails slow the mast's sinking...
Days pass. The sun rises over the Bay of Bengal.
Through it, pilot whales swim. They're like dolphins...only bigger, and black, and without snouts. They chirp as they go along. It must be the surface they sense; there's nothing to bump into out here.
In several spots, sperm whales appear to hang upside down, in mid-water, like monoliths. Some of them moan in their sleep...
Among all of this, an empty bottle floats. Its inside is partially flooded.
Even so, James has survived the Mizo ninjas' attempt on him. He's now a ten thousandth his normal size, and inside the bottle. The process to get here was intense, if James dares say so himself. But then, he should anticipate what's to come...
From behind, something approaches. It's big. It's neither a whale nor a pilot whale. Nor is it Bengali...or English, which is what would be best for James in this sitch.
James turns around, just as his bottle is broadsided by a wave. The wave is caused by the passing bow of a warship. It's an aircraft carrier. And on either side of itself, it comes with a cruiser.
Interested, James wears a winged harness. The wings resemble a gnat's.
He ascends from the bottle, and ascends the aircraft carrier's freeboard. Below him, the bottle he was in capsizes.
These ships fly Sino-Tibetan colors. Even though this is the Bay of Bengal, they're all a long way from Myanmar, Singapore, and Taiwan.
James is nearly deafened by the sounds of warplanes taking off and landing. Even so, James used to be a sailor himself; he knows very well not to get too close to warplanes when he's the size of a gnat.
Some of these sailors are Mizo, as James's preliminary recon reveals. Interesting; James recalls that those ninjas who attacked him were Mizo...
James hides in a vent duct, and toughs it out. One thing's for certain: he sure hopes these warships aren't on their way to attack England...