Chapter 3: Rescue

Tony looked around. He was back under the partial shade of the parachute, alone on the desert island. Had it all been a dream? It had to be! It couldn’t have been real! Djinnis and bottles? That just wasn’t real? And afterwards? In his wildest days, back when he was still a teenaged cadet on leave from the Academy, he’d never been able to perform like he had in that ... dream? And no woman could ever be that perfect and eager. Shortly before dawn she had done the blink thing and conjured up a bottle. “Lamp oil, Master,” she had said, and then had knelt on the sheets and reached back to spread those impossibly perfect ass cheeks. “Take me, Master! Use me completely!” she had begged, and he had happily agreed.

Now he was sitting naked under the parachute. Tony stretched and scratched and felt filthy and crusty. He felt like he had spent a month straight fornicating, but that was just impossible. Climbing to his feet, he trotted down to the sea and dove in. Five minutes later he walked back to the lifeboat and began sorting through his gear for another MRE. Sand crabs had taken the one he had opened and shown to the djinni. Or had he eaten part of it and then fallen asleep?

Twenty minutes later the emergency radio squawked, and he grabbed it. “Lifeboat One, Lifeboat One, this is Kilo Lima Six-Three. Do you read me?”

“Kilo Lima Six-Three, this is Lifeboat One. I read you five by five.”

“Say condition, Lifeboat One.”

“Same as yesterday, Kilo Lima Six-Three. Condition good, but missing the champagne and dancing girls,” replied Tony. He looked around and tried to find where the P-3C was. To the south he saw a dot getting closer, so he began waving.

The voice in the Orion laughed and answered, “We don’t have any champagne or dancing girls, but a helo should be landing in a few hours. They’ll at least be able to take you to a place you won’t have to eat MREs.”

“I’ll take what I can get, Kilo Lima Six-Three.”

“Roger that, Lifeboat One. Kilo Lima Six-Three out.”

“Lifeboat One out.” Tony kept waving as the Orion got closer and waggled its wings and then flew off.

It was beginning to get warm, so Tony pulled his briefs on and grabbed a bottle of water and laid down under the parachute. He napped until the noise of an approaching helicopter woke him, at which point he crawled out and saw a large helo with Navy markings coming close. Grabbing his flight suit, he pulled it on and looked around for his shoes. They were full of sand, but he knocked that out as best he could and slipped them on. By that time, the helicopter had landed a hundred yards away and a small group of men were climbing off. Once they were off the helo, they sorted themselves out and trotted over to him.

The leader came up to him and said, “Captain Nelson, I presume?”

Tony smiled. “You don’t look like Mister Stanley, Lieutenant. You’re missing a pith helmet.”

The young lieutenant grinned and stuck out his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. I’m Lieutenant Williams. Do you have anything to take back?”

“Probably.” Tony turned back towards the lifeboat and found a rucksack he had pulled out of one of the storage compartments. He policed up his trash and added his undershirt to it and then set it back down on the sand. “What happens now, Lieutenant?”

“Call me Jack. Now you get on the helo with me, and we go back to the Shoup. We’re leaving these guys to prep the lifeboat for retrieval. Also, as guards. We don’t want the Indians or the Chinese trying to take it away.”

Tony nodded in understanding. “Sounds like a plan, Jack. Whenever you’re ready.”

Nobody noticed the small, odd-shaped bottle rolling across the sand and into the rucksack.

The lieutenant spoke into a handheld radio and passed along that they would be leaving the site momentarily. Then he went over to some of the sailors and gave them the word. They nodded and saluted, and he came back to Tony. “Let’s go, Captain.”

Tony grabbed his rucksack and walked with his escort back to the helicopter. Five minutes later they were strapped in and heading south. Two hours later Tony saw a ship heading towards them. Jack Williams said, “Home sweet home. As soon as we land, I’m to get you to the sickbay for a checkup. Then you’re to get cleaned up and report to the skipper.”

Tony nodded. “Figures. You just lead the way, Lieutenant. I guess I belong to the Navy for a bit.”

Tony’s escort smiled and nodded. Five minutes later he was helping Tony unstrap and get off the helicopter. A petty officer helped them down and pointed them towards a door. Tony got lost almost immediately, but quickly found himself being led into a doctor’s office. A corpsman asked, “How are you feeling, Captain?” and then had Tony strip down to his briefs for a quick physical.

Half an hour later, Tony was released, diagnosed as perfectly healthy and not suffering from his unusual return to Earth. Lieutenant Williams led him to a storeroom where a petty officer outfitted him with some clean clothes and shoes, and a toilet kit with shaving gear and a toothbrush. He was escorted to a head, where he could take a shower, shave, and dress, and then was taken to a two-person officer’s cabin. “You can share my cabin while you’re here, Captain.”

“What about your roommate?”

“He’s back in Diego Garcia with the flu. When we get back there, he should be well enough to come back aboard.”

“Okay, give me five minutes and we can go see the captain.”

Williams stepped out of the cabin and closed the door. Tony tossed his rucksack on the spare bunk and heard a slight clink. Curious, he opened the rucksack and stared at the bottle he had found on the island. It was real! He hadn’t been dreaming! He stared at it for a minute until a knock on the door woke him up. “How we doing, Captain?”

“Sorry for the delay. Give me a minute,” Tony called out. He quickly combed his hair and retied his shoes and then opened the door. “Lead the way, Jack.”

This time the walk led him back into the maze of passageways and ladders. Five minutes later Tony was on the bridge. “Skipper, here’s our new guest,” said Williams.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. You’ve got him squared away?”

“Yes, sir. Doc gave him a clean bill of health, he’s got some gear, and I have him bunking with me.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he replied, dismissing the junior officer. He turned to Tony Nelson. “I’m Bill Cobb. Welcome to the Shoup.” Captain Cobb was actually a commander, not a full captain, but on his ship was referred to as Captain.

“Thank you, sir. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

“Have you ever been on a destroyer, Captain.”

Tony shook his head. “No, sir. I’ve never been on a ship larger than a fishing boat.”

“Well, that’s all right. The Navy is used to rescuing Air Force pilots. We’ll take care of you,” he laughed.