[ Jackson Crewe sits in front of me. He nurses a tall whisky and sits with the air of the grizzled veteran he is despite being ten years my junior.]

I was an engineer on the U.S.S Gerald R. Ford. Ever seen an aircraft carrier?

[I nod.]

Then you'll know what a behemoth those things are. Since World War II, not a single one has been sunk. Their armor can withstand the toughest of battles and they could sail through a hurricane without a scratch.

And yet they were no match for the damned forces of nature.

We had just finished repairs in Norfolk and were sailing through New York Harbour to reach Florida for our next assignment. I was standing on deck watching the sun set. The sea was dotted with fishing trawlers, cargo ships, cruise ships, tugboats...They were just turning on their lights. Quite the pretty sight.

An escort for an aircraft carrier is always big. When you're moving something with a billion dollar price tag, you'd better make sure you protect it well. We had three subs, two oilers, and five frigates around us. The carrier was one of the biggest and most up-to-date, sporting tech that even the Chinese didn't have. Military ships are always gonna turn some heads, and this time was no different. I was already thinking about the warm bunk waiting for me.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light.

The light wasn't even that bright, so I figured it was my eyes. Then I turned around and saw the other sailors on deck rubbing their eyes. Was it another ship's signal? A prankster on a cruise?

I looked up and saw the sky had taken on a shade of pink. The temperature seemed just a bit too warm.

Then the waves started.

At first they started small, causing the smaller ships to start bobbing. The problem was- there wasn't any wind. Just the typical June Breeze.

The waves got bigger and bigger. The tugboats began to head to shore. As I watched, one of them tipped over and capsized. Up and down, up and down. In the distance, the city of New York shone.

I began to feel uneasy. What was causing this? All of a sudden, the radio started buzzing with chatter. We'd been put to DEFCON 2. And there was something about... three moons? Before I could ask what was going on, the waves thrashed and the ship began to heave.

The entire carrier weighed more than twenty thousand tonnes. It would take some serious mass to even budge the thing. This weather meant business.

Only then did the going get really tough.

The waves grew bigger and bigger- the height of a two-story building, easy. Only the worst tsunamis and hurricanes could produce these. But it was a clear evening and the waves weren't acting like tsunamis. In the distance, I could see the waves heading towards New York.

The captain radioed to us to batten down the hatches . They had already begun to get out of the control tower. We immediately began to adjust the chocks on the planes- couldn't have them sliding carrier began to pick up speed. It was lucky we had a full tank, because it took every drop we had to fight those monstrous waves.

We couldn't help but watch the chaos. A cruise ship began loading its passengers onto lifeboats. As if those tiny things could withstand the had begun to gather above us and it began to rain.

But this was no storm. The rain, the wind, were not big enough to justify waves this size.

All of a sudden, we hit an extra-big one. I watched as one of our oilers and a cruiser flipped over. A sub careened into a nearby cruise ship. The poor bastards wouldn't even be able to get to the lifeboats...

The ship heaved. Everything on the deck not tied down slid to the right. Luckily, I was next to the exit to belowdecks and hung on to the doorframe like my life depended on it- which it did. Not everyone was so lucky.

[He casts his eyes to the floor]

I:What's wrong?

That day, I lost many of my friends. Ten on the capsized ships, four on the carrier. One of the planes had tipped off its chocks and was sliding down the side, right to where he was calibrating his instruments. He was knocked off the side and into the ocean. I'd known these people since I was eighteen, and I'd eaten with them, drunk with them, trained with them...One of them was even getting married when he could get back on land. Invited me and everything. Now he's dead.

I:I'm sorry for your losses. If you'd like to stop?

No, people need to hear this. The ship shuddered and we heard a massive bang. The radio squawked. We had been hit by a ship! That did it for most of us and we scrambled to get belowdecks. The bridge was in chaos and we'd lost or damaged a good half of our escort. Anyone with even the slightest sense of curiosity had rushed to a window when they got into the ship.

I too had to see what was going on.

After all, we were driving past the world's biggest car crash.

[He swigs his whisky]

The ships in the harbour were knocking into each other, over and over, creating a series deafening creaks. God, the noise. Every few minutes there'd be an explosion. The ships were tossed around like corks in a bathtub. We saw an entire yacht tip over, creating a suction that capsized the tugboats around it. All of the ships were trying to sail into the harbour. Not that it would have been possible- Manhattan was flooded at this point. But they wanted safety. A sailor dashed in with the news that we had lost radio contact with two frigates and a sub had sunk. Those ships were meant to weather hurricanes- one of those giant ten foot waves every few minutes or so. Well, the waves were ten times the height and every few seconds!

Only the luckiest and heaviest ships on earth could withstand waves that size!

All of a sudden, the mother of all waves came into view. That thing was 300 feet tall, easy-enough to make a tsunami more than enough to sink us. Naturally, the ship picked up speed. By the grace of God, that wave just missed us-and sent Only later did we learn that was just the new, improved version of the giant waves storms often threw up.

The Statue of Liberty came into view. Symbol of America, beacon of hope, tourist attraction. Personally, I'd always wanted to visit.

It was submerged in water up to its knees.

Any tourists who happened to be at the base were dead now. I caught a glimpse of a flash of light from the crown- someone was trying to signal us. Then, another wave sent an entire cargo ship smashing into its something out of a movie, the statue, standing since 1908, a greeting from America to its immigrant population, snapped in half with a deafening creak and sunk into the cargo ship had bust into flames and half of it was still in the water. The only part of the statue still above water was the torch, like that one Planet Of The Apes. All things considered, pretty appropriate.

We watched as we sailed past Manhattan, the buildings submerged in water, ships lying on their sides or crashed into buildings. Helicopters and planes buzzed about trying to reduce who they could. The sea was calming a bit but still far too choppy for any boats. We didn't know that this was maritime's new normal-that the giant waves were here to stay. Less than ten percent of the ships in the harbour escaped that day.

[He sighs.]

Finally, our orders to sail to the nearest base- that meant back to Norfolk- came through. By that point, we'd cleared the harbour and the captain had yelled at us to get back to work. We'd sustained a pretty nasty dent and had to maintain the overtaxed engines. What with the waves rocking us back and forth, it took us two weeks to make a three day we reached the base-no, not the base, it was underwater now, the temporary port- it was only then we got the full picture. In a flash, America had gained a whole lot of new land off the side of California and the coast line of every nation on Earth had shrunk. All courtesy of our two new moons, Luna and Artemis.[The popular designation for the two new moons Earth gained during the event.]

The United States Navy had lost almost every ship that wasn't drydocked at the time- and some that were drydocked.

The only consolation was, so had the other nations.

And our whole world had changed.

[He smiles wearily.]

I:...Wow. That was interesting.

That's what everyone tells me. Well, I have to get going.

[He stands up]

That old quote from Joseph Stalin... it's true. '1 death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.' That day, I didn't know how much death I saw- or even what was repeated across the world.