I didn't really mind storms, but this one made it hard for me to sleep. I wasn't too keen on leaving my cabin either though. Bumping into every wall and every person there was didn't seem like a lot of fun. I just tried to hold a steady pose until the storm calmed down again.

I got a few hours of sleep before I went to get some breakfast. But that was interrupted by a call to boarding stations. "Come on, that includes you." ET pulled me up. I didn't think I would be part of a boarding party since I haven't ever been yet but apparently I was wrong. I quickly suited up. We reached the catamaran, but it seemed deserted. I helped Swain and Spider get the sails in while the others searched the boat. There wasn't a single person on it. "No notes. No logs. Nothing to indicate where the crew disappeared to or how," Swain said. "Well maybe they were swept over during the storm," the XO suggested. "The whole crew?" Swain asked doubtfully. "What about thieves?" "There doesn't appear to be anything missing." "Ma'am, look at this," Spider suddenly called. He was hovering over something. I went over to see what it was. And I regretted it instantly. There was a fair amount of blood, enough to give me a bad feeling. Especially when I heard that it was possible that the owner of the catamaran, Rory Kinsella, might have committed suicide. It was the anniversary of his son's death.

"ET, Spider, Red, you guys take the catamaran back to port," the XO said. "Aye, ma'am," ET replied. Swain handed me the ration packs and I put them somewhere they wouldn't bother anyone. "Alright guys, let's get this baby cranking," ET called when Swain and the XO had left. Spider didn't react to it so walked over to him. He seemed to have found something, or rather not found something. "ET, there's a life jacket missing," Spider said, "If he was trying to drown himself, why would Mr. Kinsella put on a life jacket?" "Red, tell the CO," ET ordered me. "Yes, sir," I replied automatically and ET laughed. I took my radio and called the Hammersley, telling them that one of the life jackets was missing. "Good work," the CO said. I couldn't contain a smile. I was starting to get the hang of things, slowly, but surely.

We were to continue back to port while the Hammersley searched for the owner of the catamaran. I helped ET set it up so we could get back to Cairns.
"Alright, let's take a look inside," ET exclaimed when we were done. "Should we?" Spider and I asked at the same time. "You wanna spend the next two days on deck?" ET looked at us with raised eyebrows, "I'm hungry." "I got the ration packs here," I said. "Oh, I think we can do better than that."

We got distracted by a coast watch plane. "Do you reckon they'll find him?" Spider asked. "Do fish breathe air?" ET retorted and went inside. "Do they?" Spider seemed to genuinely think about that. I just looked at him for a second before I shook my head laughing and followed ET. "Come on, Spide," ET called to Spider who was still on deck.

"Curdled." ET threw the milk carton away. "Whoa, isn't curdled milk on a ship supposed to mean bad luck?" Spider asked. He seemed to be pretty superstitious, or just very gullible. "You can pretty much ignore everything Chefo says," ET told Spider. So gullible. Chefo always told some bogus stories. Most of the time, at least I thought that, it was pretty obvious that those stories were just made up. But Spider seemed to be naïve enough to believe them. I looked around the catamaran' kitchen some more while ET and Spider talked. I noticed a black cup. "Coolest Dad ever," I read out loud. ET looked at the cup in my hands. "This boat is probably what… five-six years old?" ET said questioningly, "I reckon he bought it when his son was born." "Kinsella's killed himself, hasn't he?" Spider concluded. ET didn't answer, so I did. "No, he hasn't," I stated firmly. I didn't want to believe that he would kill himself. He still had a wife to care for. I didn't know Rory Kinsella, but I doubted he would put his wife through the pain of losing a loved one again on purpose.

ET quickly changed the subject and we ate some of the ration Chefo had made for us.

After quite a while we had radio contact. Hammersley had found Kinsella. He was alive. I heaved a big sigh of relief. "Looks like you were right, Red," ET said. "Yea, fish do breathe air." "And sometimes pigs fly." I just smiled, glad that I had been right and Kinsella hadn't committed suicide. ET walked down to the fridge. "Well, young sailors, you no longer need to worry about exploiting a dead man's possessions," he said, "Now we can exploit a life man's possessions." "ET, are you sure we are allowed?" I asked hesitantly. "Guys, until a few minutes ago, Rory Kinsella was never going to see this beer again. Or anything else for that matter," ET exclaimed, "So I think it's only appropriate that we celebrate his health with a bottle of imported." "I'm not gonna be a part of this," I said and went back on deck. ET followed shortly after with three beer bottles in hand. "Are you sure you don't want one?" he asked me and I shook my head. "No, I'm not much of a drinker anyways," I replied. "Really?" "Yea." Then Spider came out as well. "I found some biscuits!" he triumphed. I hesitated for a second but took one.

We spent the next few hours on deck just chatting and eating biscuits until the whole pack was gone. Spider went back inside to get some more, but he took quite a long time. "What's taking him so long?" ET looked questioningly at me but I just shrugged, "Come on Spider! How long does it take to find some more biscuits?" he called inside. A few seconds later Spider appeared without biscuits, but with a black briefcase instead. "He's not gonna keep them in there, is he?" ET asked laughing and I had to laugh as well, but when Spider opened the briefcase we both sobered up immediately. There was a whole lot of cash in that briefcase. "How much is that?" I asked flabbergasted. "Let's count it."

In the end it was just a lot, over 25 thousand Dollars. "So… what do we do now?" ET asked. "What do you mean?" Spider retorted. Wasn't it pretty obvious what we had to do? "Well, the X hasn't mentioned anything about this money… which means, Kinsella hasn't mentioned the money… which means, this is dodgy money… which means, it doesn't exist" Was ET saying what I thought he was saying? "Which means, no one's gonna know if it just… disappears," he confirmed my guess, "Now, young sailors like you two could do a lot with this sorta money." I stared at him disbelievingly. But when I looked at Spider he seemed hesitant. "I don't remember reading anything about this before…In the Navy values…" he hesitated, "Shouldn't we just give it back?" "Yes, we should," I said, looking at Spider insistently. ET knocked on the table grinning. "Well done, you two. That's exactly what we're gonna do. We're gonna give it back." I heaved another sigh of relief. He hadn't been serious about keeping the money. "So Spider, why don't you get on the radio and tell Hammersley what we've found?" So Spider went to the radio while ET and I put the money back in the briefcase and then went back outside again. "Did you really not think about keeping the money?" ET asked me. "No," I replied, "Did you?" "Not really, I'm familiar with the regulations regarding stuff like this." "Good." I smiled.

We spent the next few hours on the deck again. ET managed to talk me into drinking with him. But drinking and being in the sun made me very tired. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep right there on the deck.

When I woke up again, ET didn't seem to be in a good mood. "Is something wrong?" I asked him. "Spider flushed our careers down the toilet," he simply replied. "What? How? Why?" "Remember that bloodstain?" I nodded, "Rory Kinsella's best mate killed him, and that was needed as evidence, and Spider cleaned it up." "Spider did what?" I couldn't help but sigh. That sounded like something Spider would do. I looked over to him. Spider was putting the fenders out. "What's this?" he suddenly asked and help up some sort of rope. ET went over to help him, so did I when it seemed like the rope was stuck. We pulled the rope up. "AH!" I shrieked and stumbled back when a foot suddenly surfaced. I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground. "That's Kinsella, isn't it?" Spider concluded. I didn't even want to hear it. I turned away when they pulled him up. "Spider, go radio it in," I heard ET say and I could see Spider vanish inside from the corner of my eye.

"Are you alright?" ET put a hand on my shoulder. The thought that he had just… touched a dead body with it, made me shudder. "I don't know," I replied truthful, "I've never seen a dead body before." "It's okay." I didn't know the man, but I couldn't stop shaking. ET put both his hands on my shoulders, trying to soothe me a little. And it helped somewhat.

But I was still very glad when we finally got to port and I could finally get off that boat.

ET sent me home while he and Spider handed over the body to the Feds. Noah wasn't home yet so I just went straight to sleep, hoping I wouldn't dream of any dead bodies.