Nigh

Crane asked Patterson and Kowalski, the men who had been with Farrell on the prize crew, to meet with him. They three were well aware that Krueger had been at the launch, that Farrell had been there, and that Farrell had saved the Skipper. They made their plans and agreed to implement them the next day at 1400.

Morton gave a fleeting wry smile of acknowledgment to Angie, knocked on the Admiral's office door, waited a moment then opened the door and walked in. His feelings were still a bit sensitive around Nelson but he was working on it. He could act professional now and hoped that soon his feelings would follow.

"They're gone, sir. We've missed them."

Nelson sighed and gave a slightly worried frown. "I wish they had told us." He stood up. "All right. Let's go find them, Mr. Morton."

"Shall I drive, sir?"

"No, Chip. I'll ask Angie to round up Sharkey to drive. You go collect Doc." Nelson briskly spoke with Angie letting her know they were leaving as the two men strode from the office.

The men got into Nelson's Lincoln. The Admiral turned to Morton, "Do you know where to look? Where they would go?"

"I believe so, sir." Morton's face was solemn. "We'll find them." He told Sharkey where to go.

Crane, Kowalski and Patterson stood on a hillside that overlooked the ocean beside the stone that for them marked a life lived and lost. Farrell wasn't here. He would never be here. His unknown grave was unmarked and far, far away. They stood in silence and regret for what might have been, but would never be. Their grief was tempered by time, no longer holding the raw intensity of fresh loss. They remembered Farrell alive and they remembered him dead. Remembered him a valiant hero. They thought of him and solemnly wished him peace.

In the distance behind them a large dark sedan drove up to the verge and stopped. Car doors opened and closed quietly. After a while footsteps advanced swishing softly through the grass.

Nelson, Morton, Doc, and Sharkey slowly approached the trio but, honouring their quiet reflection, hesitated to draw attention to themselves. The three men already there turned with the tightly controlled faces of solemnity. They ceremoniously shook hands. Then all, by silent mutual consensus, looked at the stone.

The men took time to reflect, then each in turn laid his pebble on the stone as his bond with the departed. Sharkey hadn't known Farrell the man but felt honoured to be here as he laid his pebble.

Lee went last and the pebble he placed was black with a line of white running through it. The ring on his hand clinked softly on the stone and on the black pebble. He took a deep unfettered breath. For the first time since that cell far, far from here his heart felt at peace. Farrell had touched his heart and freed him from guilt. Freed him to live. With face tightly controlled he gave a gentle farewell pat to the stone then, blinking tears away before they fell, looked away over the ocean.

Unplanned, but as if rehearsed, they all together took a deep breath, that proof of life, then turned away from their dead and left him to rest in peace.

They walked away in silence. Each quiet with his thoughts and grateful for the men beside him.

He was back in the nothing. After a while he perceived that there was another crack letting in light ahead. A different kind of light. Indescribable light. It wasn't a crack to the land of the living. It connected to someplace else. He had always feared this, this other place that he had thought of in the before time as the long darkness, but now he didn't fear. He had courage to face it. Suddenly he realized he had always possessed that courage. He just hadn't realized it. Courage didn't come from a ring, from a stone, or from someone else. It came from within ones own being. He stepped toward the crack.

Surname: Farrell

Meaning: Man of Courage

xxxxx

Appendix A: Afterword

I realize that in the earliest episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea including The Mist of Silence David Hedison did not wear an onyx ring but one that looked like a high profile academic-style ring. In later Season One episodes however including The Indestructible Man he was wearing the lower profile onyx ring that has come to be a trademark of Lee Crane in fan fiction. Since that onyx ring was the source of so many continuity errors in the show throughout its run I feel justified in my own onyx ring continuity error. I claim fiction to account for it and I trust that readers will go with it in the spirit of the story. For your understanding I thank you.

Appendix B: Names

Some names have several meanings. These are name meanings as used in Clash:

Brand - Sword

Chip - Free Man

Creager - Americanized form of Krueger

Dodd - Deceiver

Farrell - Man of Courage

Krueger - Maker of jugs/containers

Lani - Heaven

Lee - Sheltered

Mary/Maria - Of the Sea

Nelson - Champion

Starke - Bold

Appendix C: Works

Episodes and works referred to in Clash:

The Mist of Silence, Writer: John McGreevey. Director: Leonard Horn.

My story: Breathe

The Indestructible Man, Writer: Richard Landau. Director: Felix Feist

The Phantom Strikes, Writer: William Welsh. Director: Sutton Roley.

My story: Eidolon

The Return of the Phantom, Writer: William Welsh. Director: Sutton Roley.

The Cyborg, Writers: William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter. Director: Leo Penn.

The Mechanical Man, Writers: John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins. Director: Sobey Martin.

My story: Interlude

My story: Shell Games

Journey with Fear, Writer: Arthur Weiss. Director: Harry Harris.