Chapter 7: A Short Respite in Paradise

“It is more than evident that a leader must recognize that relaxing oneself can lead to complacency. It lowers one’s guard and leaves the person vulnerable against an enemy that never sleeps. However, when temporarily resting one’s army, there are many benefits given to them, benefits that are more important than one may truly ever realize” Shira, 2348 AD.

The great landscape of Cebravis fills the view. The orange glow of the star radiated outward, causing the ocean waters past the beach to appear in purple. The sounds of the rushing waves loomed the entire area.

Near the shoreline was the Lifen lander. It had been recently parked on the large thicket of grass. The vessel’s vectoring engines emitted a small amount of heat after the ship’s initial atmospheric entry. The massive front bay entrance to the storage facility had been open. Its heavy-duty doors had been lowered like a large ramp. If one were to walk out of the ship’s bay, they could keep walking until they reached the shores.

Several crew members seemed to be either busy or enjoying the scenery that was around them. Fresh air, the smell of salt water, and the crashing tides dominated the spectrum. Not far from the Lifen was a forest. Various bird-like creatures were flying in a flock over the sky. Their overhead chirping was long and delayed as their two sets of wings would flap and adjust to the winds that pushed against them.

Cebravis’s environment was supposedly like that of former Earth. However, the alien-like plants still consisted of maple-like trees and blue and yellow shrubs. The trees were oddly shaped, being that of a blend of mangrove roots that grew wide in the beach sand and pine bark. Various insects and similar birds would feast upon the leaking syrup that flowed from the sides. The area where the Lifen resided was a wide open area before it would go through the heart of the forest and dense shorelines.

However, in the wake of the serenity, six individuals came running out of the front storage bay of the vessel. The recruit trainees, Stone and Ioren, ran out in formation. The recruits were dressed in blue and red swim trunks and shirts. Stone was dressed in similar attire as well. Ioren’s spandex-like material was the same as it was before. All of them seemed focused on their running direction that led down the sands to the shore.

“Come on!” Stone yelled at the recruits. “Get your asses to the water! No fucking excuses. This isn’t some pleasure cruise. If you’re going to be marines, then you need to learn to fucking swim.”

All four seemed to show a little bit of slowing in their movements. They struggled as their legs had to work extra hard than normal. Finally, stone broke off from formation as he looked and waved his hands at them in anger.

“Move! Move! Move!” Stone pressed them with no signs of his running. “I said no fucking excuses. As marines, you have to handle the heavier gravity that the planets throw at you. Come on, you pissants!”

“Argh!” Enlai groaned as his feet felt like they had become lead. Ever since the ship landed and he stood up, the gravity felt more intense.

“Damn it!” Dariea remarked with some anger.

“Cursing at your environment isn’t going to make the problem go away, private razor! Get your asses to the water.”

Enlai felt envious of the situation as he almost tripped in the loose beach sands. Both Isandro and Gavrill both seemed to fair better. However, even as Enlai’s eyes wandered, he could see the other crew outside of the Lifen walking around as if they were in paradise. There were even some crew that were walking away from the ship and wandering away from their location, but down the shorelines. There were at least some men that were in swimming trunks, with the occassional few women even in bikinis. Yet ... Enlai couldn’t be a part of it. Instead, he was in the prison brigade ... being screamed at by the man that had been breathing down their necks for almost two weeks. There would be no breaks for the future marines.

As the recruits were nearing the waters, Mizu left the front storage bay of the Lifen. He was still in his blue and red jumpsuit uniform. There was a look of confusion on his face. He was listening carefully for the different sounds that were around him. He could hear the faint thumping footsteps that came from behind him. He turned to see Amelia who was holding a sizeable lightweight metal pipe across her shoulder.

“Where is he?” Mizu remarked. He started to scratch his head.

“I don’t know where he went,” Amelia commented. “We can’t take too many breaks as it is. I tried calling his tablet, but I got no response.”

“Hmmm...,” Mizu paused as he closed his eyes and listened carefully. “Ever sense we arrived, Dean seemed preoccupied ... maybe more preoccupied than usual.”

“Anything that your augmented hearing can pick up?” the female engineer asked him.

“There’s so much around me ... So many different sounds that it’s difficult to decipher everything. Ugh ... I can’t have this now. My wife is nearing her...,” he paused and shook his head. “I don’t have the time to keep searching for our guy.”

Mizu turned to look back inside the Lifen. One of the shuttles had been fully assembled. Unfortunately, while many of the crew were getting a chance to relax, the engineers had to work extra longer than usual. Looking at it from the front, the shuttles didn’t look anything that impressive. It was a black flat rectangular box with a pair of curved wings in the front and mid sides. Other engineers were still making the final checks on the finished one while the other engineers were still piecing together the other one. Time was running out. The big event was coming up, which was all the more important that they found Dean as soon as possible.

“Where did he go?” Mizu asked. “I can’t believe he just slipped past us like that.”

“I know,” Amelia commented. She put one of her free hands to her hips. “Yet, you never heard him leave?”

“He must have left when you guys were working when the shuttle’s computer alarm was going off by accident. Damn it was loud.”

“Well ... you have to find him and bring him back. I don’t want to file a missing person’s report. Probably, missed his home planet more than we thought.”

Amelia was about to turn around when Mizu could hear it. As he started to walk down the ramp of the Lifen, there was the faint words that went into his left ear.

“I think I heard him,” Mizu stated.

“You did? Where?” Amelia asked.

“Sounded like ‘farout’ from my left.”

“Sounds like him.”

Mizu decided to leave Amelia behind. Her hands were full as it was. The young pilot’s attention began to turn away from the shoreline as he was zeroing in on the words. It was leading into a thicket past the mangrove like trees. This led to the area of blue and yellow shrubs that ultimately went into the forest of the grand island.

He began his trek away from the ship. As he started to walk, Mizu was beginning to see the outside details of the Lifen. The massive rectangular box transport might not have been a pretty vessel, as most transports were, but it was still home. It still had a certain elegance to it. The enormous side mounted vectoring thrusters, port bow AIO turret, portside dual railgun turret and magnificent wings were obvious areas of interest. This vessel was an oversized gunship.

He continued his walk as he could gather more detail of the environment. It was as if the vessel parked itself into wonderland. The beauty of the landscape was overwhelming his senses. It was like nothing he ever saw before.

“Only twenty minutes in and the crew are making themselves at home here,” Mizu commented. “I guess I can’t blame them.”

There were only a few individuals that he could see past this point. He still didn’t know the entire crew, but a man and woman were standing and talking with one another at least twenty meters away from him. He was not the sort to eavesdrop onto other individual’s conversations, but his hearing told him everything that he needed to know. This was a couple ready to head into the forest to enjoy some romantic encounter with one another.

“Hmm ... I guess this world is just like history suggested,” Mizu quietly said to himself. “It’s a sex planet.”

Of course, it wasn’t as if he had any different ideas. The couple’s conversation was making him think of Li’lo and Jenta. How much he considered about “going native” and take his wives to go and have fun with them in the wilderness. The only catch was that he knew Jenta’s time was soon. It could happen at any time.

“Where is he?” Mizu asked himself. “He can be quiet when he wants to be.”

There was a particular smell that filled the air. It was something that he was unfamiliar with, but it had an earthly and wood-like smell. It was also that of an herbal like substance. So, where was it coming from exactly?

“Wait...,” he commented. “I know that smell. It almost smells like ... Dean.”

No ... it was coming from the plants. His mind was trying to make sense of it as he turned to look back at the Lifen. By now, the parked vessel was becoming a building in the background. He was at least fifty meters away before he swore he heard something else. It turned his attention to it.

“Oh ... that’s like ... totally awesome...,” Dean’s voice could be heard.

“There he is,” Mizu said to himself.

He was getting closer to where Dean was supposed to be. There was a layer of tall grass that obscured Mizu’s view. However, his hearing was telling him everything. Another person was not that far. He reached the obstruction and gently pushed it out of the way while he stepped through it.

Upon breaching the wall of grass, Mizu had a full view of everything. He could see Dean, that was busy overlooking a somewhat tall plant. This form of vegetation consisted of a singular brown stalk with a series of broad green bulbous leaves. There had to be many of them. The smell was much more pungent now than ever.

Dean was busy plucking leaves from the plant. He was inhaling the fragrance given from them and seemed to be closing his eyes. He was engaged in doing whatever he was doing.

“There you are,” Mizu commented as he approached the distracted man. “Dean, what are you doing out here? We still have work to do.”

“Wha ... oh ... I’m sorry Mizu,” Dean replied back in his calm and stoned state. “Like ... I just had to get some more, man. Happy to see Cebravis again, you know?” He took a quick whiff of the next leaf. “Yep ... yep ... definitely good.”

“You’re stuffing those leaves into your pockets. What for?”

“Oh ... this stuff is the best stuff, Mizu-bro,” Dean remarked with a stupor smile. “These aren’t just ordinary leaves, but the rare variant of the ... Hlen’weed ... umm ... venscaitius...” He paused as he thought of the whole word. “Ventacaitus Plorabelium Cebravin ... yeah...”

“Wait, you left the ship to score some pot?” Mizu gave a somewhat frowned look at him.

“Oh man, this stuff is like ... amazing. It’s the best weed that Cebravis can give you.”

“Ugh ... of course he did that,” Mizu said to himself. He put his hands to his hips. “Dean, can’t this wait until later on tonight? We still need to work on the shuttles till we finish up the framework of the second shuttle.”

“Ah ... I know man ... I know,” Dean gently waved his hand at him. “I just don’t know if Izzy is going to give me the time to do this.”

“Didn’t you already tell me that she wasn’t going to be happy if you were getting stoned all of the time?”

“Well ... it’s true, but ... it’s not true ... you know? Izzy is a total bro. I promised to like ... cut back on it and I am. But ... I’m still going to run out too. You can’t completely say no to Hlen’weed. It like ... really helps out with the work and all that.”

“You mean all the times you offered advice on things that don’t work.”

“Dude ... you just have to trust me. I work my best when the magic is happening.”

Mizu sighed a little bit. He couldn’t be too upset with Dean. He remembered that Cebravins could be this way. Besides, Dean had been more helpful rather than be outright useless. He couldn’t entirely blame him for wanting to be on Cebravis.

“I guess you missed this place,” Mizu commented.

“Yeah...,” Dean remarked as he paused with the weed plants. He then turned to face him. “It’s like ... so nice to be on this island. It’s like ... being at home, but it’s not your home.”

“Where is your house?”

“About 800 kilometers away. I know because the Veny Plora stuff grows in the northern hemisphere ... like ... really up north. This is just awesome, you know? I was expecting to find some weed ... hopefully, but not this type of weed. Now I got something to rightfully trade with Zelly.”

“Zelly?”

“You know? Zelly? A marine bro on the ship. She’s got some good stuff too.” Dean gave a plucky nod.

Mizu lightly shook his head. “You know, Dean. I don’t know what to say about you. You practically remind me of another that I met on Fort Batrice...”

The short haired pilot began to really pause as he thought about it almost drowning out what Dean had replied back. It was something that Mizu hadn’t considered, but it was this odd feeling that had loomed with him. It never went away every time he was with Dean. Finally, something had surfaced.

“Dean, you don’t happen to know an engineer by the name of Chuck, do you?”

Dean replied back with a big nod. “Chuckie? Yeah, he’s my cousin ... my Batrician ... Batricite ... Batrice cousin.”

“Cousin...” Mizu nodded. “It has to be him. I met him.”

“Whoa!” Dean’s eyes lit up. “Like ... that’s farout. You had a chance to meet another of my family. How is my cousin?”

“Well ... haven’t you called him?”

“I try to ... but ... alot of my messages aren’t getting through to Fort Batrice. Like ... I don’t think Batrice really likes us, you know?”

“Yeah ... I know, Dean.”

“But not like you, Mizu. You’re a true bro for a Batricinite. You’re like ... total family now.”

Mizu smiled a little bit. “Chuck and I were on watch together back on Fort Batrice. He mentioned you and how much he missed you. Hadn’t really put it together till now. There’s a couple of Deans that I met in my life, and I only met Chuck once, but I couldn’t imagine that was the case.”

“It’s alright ... ah ... yeah I miss Chuck. You’ll always know me as Duper Dean and Izzy ... but it was for like ... a long time that I was known as Duper Dean and Chuckie Chuck when we were together. Bros for life!”

Dean held up his arms in triumph as if it brought up a form of nostalgia for the stoned individual. Instead, there was genuine happiness on his face. For a little bit, Mizu could sympathize with Dean. Much like him, he was divided from family that was back on Batrice. He wasn’t the only one.

“I hope you will get a chance to see him again,” Mizu commented.

“Me too, man. Same goes with your family, you know? Them cutting you off from them ... totally ungnarly. But...” He paused as he thought about it. “I think that Captain Shiry ... she’s going to make things better for all of us.”

Mizu seemed confused, but Dean was known for his unfathomable loyalty towards others. Finally, he began to really think about it.

“You think so?” Mizu asked.

“Oh yeah ... Shiry knows what she’s doing. Like ... she’s really smart. She’s going to find a way for you to talk to your family again. Same goes with Chuck...” He paused as if he was thinking. “Before you know it. It will be all of us on the ship. Chuckie Chuck, Duper Dean, Izzy, Super Mizu, Lily, and Jentilia. New bros for life!”

“Hmm...,” Mizu smiled at the thought of that. “Let’s hope so. I think that we should head back. The engineers will get impatient with us.”

“Just give me like ... a few more minutes, Mizu,” Dean commented as he was quickly taking several more leaves from the plants. He was stuffing as many of them into his pockets as he could.

Mizu turned to look back at the Lifen. He could see above him on the top deck of the vessel was Shira. The Shal’rein captain had been standing and smoking a cigarette. Her single eye appeared to be glaring down at both him and Dean. What was she thinking about? Was he and Dean a subject of interest to her? Despite everything, she was still an enigma. The reports from the crew were generally warm towards the captain as she played a crucial role in saving many of them. But, regardless, was she angry at the scene that was transpiring? Did she view having a stoned pilot as a good thing?

No ... it couldn’t be, but why? Every time he had put something together, it would only lead to further questions. From atop her ship, she was observing everything as if she was on top of a mountain. The setting sunlight had almost made her appear as an illuminated goddess overlooking her subjects. The wind even pressed her ponytail away from the back of her head.

“She’s been watching us...,” Mizu remarked to himself quietly. “From the very beginning as we’ve built the shuttles.” His comment was not a realization but more of note. He said it just loud enough that Dean had overhead it.

“Huh?” Dean asked. “Like ... what are you talking about?”

“Our captain. I don’t think she’s been observing the construction of our shuttles. She’s been observing us.”

“Well ... maybe she’s like ... making sure that she knows you ... you know? Like ... she knows you, but ... does she really know you? Sometimes you just have to stare for awhile ... think about life ... rest ... and get yourself wasted from time to time. Then, before you know it, it all comes to you.”

“It just ... makes me uncomfortable a little bit. Every time I would try to make one of my pep talks to encourage the team, my captain is just ... watching me.”

“Actually,” Dean paused as he plucked the last set of leaves from the plants. “I think that Shiry doesn’t want to miss out on your speeches.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like ... our captain enjoys your speeches, Mizu-bro. Actually ... umm ... I think they are uh ... thought provoking ... deep ... make sense. You should become a politician or something.”

“I ... really?” Mizu seemed to consider it.

“Yeah, man. Like ... I know the engineers are tired and sometimes they get annoyed by it, but ... I hear them still talk about you with respect too. They think you are a real bro.”

Mizu could see that the CO was taking a drag of her cigarette. Could she overhear the conversation that was going on with him and Dean? He wasn’t sure. He turned to face him.

“Oh and ... umm ... uh...,” Dean closed his eyes as if he was thinking really hard. “Plus you have Lily to help you out on that too. Like, she works in politics. She could help you out. Before you know it ... you could work in government. Whoa ... that almost made my brain hurt just thinking about that.”

“ ... I had a grandfather that worked as a secretary under Samantha Batrice’s cabinet once,” Mizu remarked. “Didn’t really know him that much.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “Nah ... it wouldn’t happen. My life has been stained after everything that happened after breaking Lilo and Jenta from Fort Batrice. I doubt any politician would want me.”

Dean remained positive. “I don’t know, Mizu. Things can change. Before you know it, everybody will be bros again. Even Gabatrix like ... he wanted everyone to be bros. My grandfather became a buddy with him.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah. Apparently from what my grandfather told me, Gabatrix was just wanting to take a break from all the media stuff, you know? My grandfather told me what Gabatrix told him. ‘A great person ... is a person who doesn’t know that they’re a great person. It’s the events that happen around them that will make them better. Don’t let the others tell you that you can’t achieve your goals.’ Umm ... something like that.”

Mizu seemed intrigued with his comment. “Really? Did he say anything else?”

“Uh ... yeah ... and something like ‘Can you pass the pipe to me? I don’t feel the buzz yet.’ From what my grandfather told me, Gabatrix just wanted to get wasted that night and not think about anything else. He apparently had a big upcoming speech to deliver to the UWA. Like ... I think that he was scared that all of us weren’t going to be bros anymore. Maybe he was worried that it wasn’t going to ... live up to people’s expectations. Hey ... oh ... whoa ... maybe that’s what you’re having too.” There was a sudden realization in Dean’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

Dean had thoroughly stuffed his pockets with as many leaves as he could. Despite all the plucking, he hadn’t stripped them bare so that it would naturally regrow what it had lost. He took what was needed and would leave nature to take its course. He then put his hand to Mizu’s shoulder as they began to walk back to the Lifen’s entrance.

“Like...,” Dean thought about it. “Maybe you have more in common with Gabatrix then you realize. I mean ... he was a pilot and so are you. Plus, he had to go through some major bummer times too. Having to steal a ship just to make the first jump ... I don’t think the authorities were too happy about that. But, the people realized it and ... they considered him to be a bro after that.”

“I ... hadn’t really thought about that,” Mizu commented. “I’ll have to keep all of that in mind.”

“Yep, maybe you’re like ... Gabatrix’s son and you didn’t even know it.” There was absolute sincerity in the man’s voice like he was convinced of it.

“I don’t think Gabatrix had any kids, Dean. Plus, my family history would totally disagree with that.”

“Oh ... yeah, you’re right, man.”

Dean patted his shoulder as they kept walking. They were approaching the ramp that led into the Lifen. He released Mizu and began to scratch his head when he looked at the shuttles.

“Have you been doing the simulators like you’re supposed to?” Mizu asked him.

“Oh ... I just remembered something,” Dean commented practically ignoring his question. He had his hand to his forehead.

“What?”

“We need to give the shuttles names. Oh man, it’s like ... mean not to do that. Our shuttles wouldn’t respect us until we do.”

“Hmm ... you’re right,” Mizu considered it. “We’ve been building these ships the whole time, and they hadn’t had proper names given to them. Some people even consider it bad luck not to do so.”

They paused in their walk as Dean was thinking hard of something. Mizu had put his hands to his chin as he thought about it.

“The Kinnara and the Krasue?” Mizu said with some skepticism. “Hmm ... that might be some good names.”

“Ah ... I don’t know what that means, but I think I have better ones for you, Mizu-bro,” Dean replied.

“Do you have better ideas?”

“Yeah, man. Get this...,” he held his hands up. “Stealth-Bro and Silent-Bro...” He gave a big nod and a thumbs up.

“Really, Dean?” Mizu gave a skeptical look at him.

“Yeah! Like, I think they are great names. See? Both of the shuttles are pals. Plus, they are both stealthy too. The one on the left there ... that will be Stealth-Bro and the other one will be Silent-Bro.”

Mizu lightly facepalmed and sighed. “Wow ... well ... you got a point on that one.”

“Stealth-Bro! She is happy already to have a great and honorable name.” Dean placed his hand to his heart as if he was virtuous. “And you will be the one to fly her.”

“Ugh...” Mizu wasn’t even going to bother anymore. He simply took Dean and lightly pushed his back to lead him back into the storage facility of the ship.

“Sarge! Sarge!” Gavrill reacted in terror. “I can’t swim! I can’t swim!”

The heavy splashing of the ocean water indicated the heavy flailing of the struggling recruit. The sun had set. However, there was still plenty of light to see everything. If anything, the spotlights of the Lifen were pressed towards the trainees to ensure that darkness would never be an issue.

Twenty minutes had passed since Stone had given his first instruction on the basics of swimming. The scene in the water was one of outright embarrassment. Gavrill was doing his best, but outright panic had ruled his mind. Stone had his arms crossed as Isandro, Enlai, Dariea, and Ioren were watching the spectacle taking place.

What further had identified the scene was that everyone was standing up. They were only stomach deep. Gavrill was on his back and throwing water all over the place.

“Private Farceur!” Stone yelled at him. “Put your fucking feet to the floor!”

“Wha!? Ah!” Gavrill continued to struggle. For several seconds, it really seemed like the towering recruit was drowning. He wasn’t that far from the others. In fact, he was only a few meters from everyone. He had tripped on one of the tree roots from the mangrove-like plants near the shore. His instincts had taken over and he was naturally fighting the light ocean waves as if he was going to die.

Enlai was doing his best to hold back his laughter at the events. Dariea was shaking her head as Ioren had a somewhat confused expression from her round pointed snout. Enlai had turned to look at Isandro. He could see that the young man was doing alright. The last few days had been rather hard on him, but Isandro was hanging in there. The good news was that Stone had eased up on the young recruit slightly. It wasn’t by too much, but Enlai knew that Isandro had always been doing his best to follow the rules and obey everything that the master sergeant had been telling him. It was unknown as to what was told to him but apparently, he was given a choice if he wanted to continue or not. Isandro choose to stay and Enlai applauded that decision.

“Ah! Ah!” Gavrill replied.

“Come on, Gavrill!” Dariea yelled at him. “You’re in a meter deep.”

“Recruit Crinkle, get his ass up!” Stone ordered him.

“Aye, Master Sergeant,” Enlai replied.

Within a few seconds, the recruit slogged his waist through the water. Gavrill was still flailing about as Enlai reached and grabbed him and yanked on his arm. It was just enough that Gavrill’s feet had hit the bottom. Within a second, his mind clicked that he could stand on the water without the fear of drowning.

“Ugh ... ah...,” Gavrill staggered and was trying to catch his breath.

“Nice ... the big man can’t even swim in a meter of water,” Dariea mocked him.

“Heh...,” Enlai sneered.

For a split second, Gavrill’s face turned to see Enlai’s face. The look of laughter went into his mind like a sharp dagger. Gavrill knew that he was being laughed at by some of the division. It was embarrassing, but before anything further happened, Stone slapped his hands together to regain everyone’s attention.

“ENOUGH!” Stone yelled out to the others. “Any more of that and all of you are going to be doing pushups on the shore til you start drinking the tides. One way or another, all of you are going to learn how to swim. Recruit Razor, if you feel that you are so capable, then you can properly demonstrate on how to swim for us.”

“Shit...,” Dariea remarked. “Aye, Master Sergeant.”

Dariea walked deeper in the water as Gavrill stepped beside and watched the female recruit pass him. It was somewhat expected in the situation that not all of the recruits would have been fluent in their abilities to swim. She took a deep breath and waved her arms around to stretch herself as she lowered her body into the water. She practically laid on her stomach. She would try to propel herself with her legs and feet. Her arms would move rapidly as she struggled hard to keep herself afloat. She was swimming, but she was breathing hard. A small wave hit her as she quickly lost her momentum and put her feet on the ground.

“Heh...,” Gavrill remarked with a sneer.

“You’re going to overexert yourself,” Stone remarked. “The first step in learning how to swim is to rest your back to the water.”

“What?” Dariea questioned him.

“Did the water get in your ears, Private Razor? Turn your body and rest on the water! Yes, you can float, we all can. Now, do it! Private Crinkle, help her out.”

“Aye, Master Sergeant,” Enlai commented.

Enlai had approached Dariea, that was busy trying to lay back to the water. It was a matter of trying to psych herself out. It was apparent that Stone knew that immersion into the water was the only way that basic survival could be learned.

“Relax yourself, Razor,” Stone told her. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Dariea would dip herself backwards, but as soon as the water hit her face, she would tense up and start to flail around before she would stop.

However, Enlai had gotten next to her. He placed his hands on her back as he gently let her lay down on the water. While he was following orders, there was a serene and perhaps harmonious moment that the young recruit had been dreaming of. He finally had a chance to touch her. He did his best to disguise it, but deep down, this was what Enlai wanted. As each day passed, Dariea grew more and more beautiful. If it weren’t for Stone, he would have been more provocative in where he would touch.

“Don’t get any ideas, Enlai,” Dariea quietly commented to him. It seemed that she was going to say something else but choose not to. Enlai was also going to say something but stayed quiet. Instead, Dariea was trying to relax herself. The back of her head had touched the water. She was cringing as Enlai was keeping her afloat.