The Enemy Below Page #5

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and in another century.

- What was your work, Captain?

- This. The sea.

- You were a sailor?

- Third officer on a freighter

out of Boston, to Liverpool,

Le Havre, and back again.

Some of our crew will be glad

to know that.

Our saltiest boys were complaining

mightily about getting a civilian skipper.

- Feather merchant, I think they call it.

- Well, I am a feather merchant.

- Well, yes, but not exactly.

- No, exactly.

On the freighter, we were men against

the sea. Here, we're men against men.

Like every other civilian in the war,

I had to learn a new way to think.

Why did you change over to the navy?

The freighter I was on

was cut in half by a torpedo.

Thought I'd be

on the shooting end for a change.

Captain.

- Captain, aye?

- Target's increased speed to 13 knots, sir.

Ring up a compensating speed, Mr. Ware.

Aye aye, sir. All engines

ahead standard, 203 rpm, sir.

Very well.

Well, in time we'll all

get back to our own stuff again.

The war'll get swallowed up

and seem like it never happened.

Yes, but it won't be the same as it was.

It won't have that feeling of permanency

that we had before.

- We've learned a hard truth.

- How do you mean?

That there's no end

to misery and destruction.

You cut the head off a snake,

it grows another one.

You cut that one off, you find another.

We can't kill it because

it's within ourselves.

You can call it the enemy if you want to,

but it's part of us. We're all men.

I suppose there is some reason

to lose hope, but I reject it.

I have a family,

and I want something better for them

than war, and I think it's possible.

Have you any children, Captain?

- No.

- Married?

I married a girl in England.

She was killed.

Bombers?

No. When the war broke out, I got passage

for her on my freighter for home -

the one that was torpedoed in half.

I was aft when it happened. I watched

the other half of the ship just slide away.

There wasn't anything

I could do about it.

I saw her run out on the foredeck,

and I heard her call my name,

then that half of the ship

just turned over and went down.

We hadn't been married very long.

Ring up the fire room.

Tell 'em we're making smoke.

- I don't wanna see that at dawn.

- Aye aye, sir.

You got more reason than the rest of us

to wanna catch this submarine.

- It might be the one that... - It might be,

but this isn't my private war.

I'm just doing what I have to do.

Like that German captain out there.

I don't like the job,

and maybe he doesn't either.

- Weather from Fleet Weather Control, sir.

- Thank you.

We're moving into a high-pressure area.

We're going to have a clear day.

Set ASW condition one.

All hands, man your battle stations.

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