"You are stealing forty-seven ships from the government of the United States?"

"I was a messman on the Saratoga," he said, "when I was sixteen. I lied about my age."

"I am the Admiral."

"It was difficult," he said. He then walked out of the chartroom and seated himself in one of the swivel chairs on posts in front of the bridge windows. I followed him.

"-- is bound?"

"No. But ship movements on this scale --"

"Is this a test of some kind?" I asked. "New equipment or --"

"I am not interested in your name," he said. "I am only interested in your behavior. As you can see, I have at my disposal forty-seven brigs, of which the carriers is the most comfortable. Not that I believe you will behave other than correctly. At the moment, I want you to do this: Go down to the galley and make a pot of coffee. Make sandwiches. You may make one for yourself. Then bring them here." He settled back in his seat and regarded the calm, even sea.

"Remember that I was, once, in accord with them. Passionately, if I may say so, in accord with them. I did whatever they wished, without thinking, hated their enemies, participated in their crusades, risked my life. Even though I only carried trays and wiped up tables. I heard the singing of the wounded and witnessed the bhttp://www.99lib.neturial of the dead. I believed. Then, over time, I discovered that they were lying. Consistently. With exemplary skill, in a hundred languages. I decided to take the ships. Perhaps theyll notice." He paused. "Now. Do you wish to accompany me, assist me?"

"What is that stuff used for the mothballing?" I asked.

"And then," he said, "think of each ship moving up the Hudson, or worse, being towed, to a depot in New Jersey where it is covered with this disgusting plastic substance. Think of the years each ship has spent moored next to other ships of its class, painted, yes, at scheduled times, by a crew of painters whose task it is to paint these ships eternally, finished with one and on to the next and back to the first again five years later. Watchmen watching the ships, year in and year out, no doubt knocking off a little copper pipe here and there --"

This made me angry. "Not normally. On the contrary. But something --"

There was no one on deck. All of the gun mounts and some pieces of special equipment were coated with a sort of plastic webbing, which had a slightly repellent feeling when touched. I watched my empty Pacemaker bobbing in the heavy wake of the fleet. I called out. "Hello! Hello!"

The forty destroyers, four light cruisers, two heavy cruisers, and the carrier w九-九-藏-书-网ere moving in perfect formation toward the open sea. The sight was a magnificent one. I had been in the Navy -- two years as a supply officer in New London, principally.

"More than anything."

"Its a polyvinylchloride solution which also contains vinyl acetate," he said. "Its sprayed on and then hardens. If you were to cut it open youd find inside, around the equipment, four or five small cloth bags containing silicate of soda in crystals, to absorb moisture. A very neat system. It does just what its supposed to do, keeps the equipment good as new."

"You will say: Yes, sir, " he corrected me.

"Are there crews aboard the other ships?"

"No," he said. I felt however that he had appreciated my shrewdness in guessing that there were no crews aboard the other ships.

There was no other traffic on the water; this I thought strange.

"Only that?"

He had finished his sandwich. A bit of mustard had soiled the sleeve of his white coat, which had gold epaulets. I thought again that he most resembled not an admiral but a man from whom one would order drinks.

"My name is --" I began.

"Why not ask my name?"

It was early morning, just after dawn, in fact. The mothball fleet was sailing down the Hudson. Grayish-brown shrouds making odd shapes at various points on the superstructures. I counted forty destroyers, four light cruisers, two heavy cruisers, and a carrier. A fog lay upon the river.

"Good." He moved the lever of the bridge telegraph to Full Ahead.

"Yes, sir."

"Of course," he said. "You were anticipated. Why dyou think that ladder wasnt secured?"

Behind us, the vessels were disposed in fleet formation -- the carrier in the center, the two heavy cruisers before and behind her, the destroyer screen correctly placed in relation to the cruisers, or as much so as the width of the channel would allow. We were making, I judged, ten to twelve knots.

"All right."

"But what are your intentions?"

He did not answer my question. He was looking at a chart.

The "Admiral" drank his coffee silently. Seabirds made passes at the mast where the radar equipment, I saw, was covered with the same plastic material that enclosed the gun installations.

I looked again at his uniform which suggested no such thing.

"There are also the submarines," he said. "Six submarines of the Marlin class."

"Something like that," he said.

"The ships were being stockpiled against a possible new national emergency," I said. "What on earth is wrong with that?"

"To be at sea," he said.

I went aboard as the fleet reached the Narrows. I notice九九藏书网d a pair of jeans floating on the surface of the water, stiff with paint. I abandoned my small outboard and jumped for the ladder of the lead destroyer.

"No no," he said, without looking up. "Nothing like that." Then he said, "A bit careless with your little boat, arent you?"

"What is your mission?" I asked, determined not to be outfaced by a man with mustard on his coat.

"Radio?" I asked. "Remote control or something?"

"I am taking these ships away from them," he said.

"Objectively," he said, smiling slightly.

I thought about this for a moment. I decided to shift the ground of the conversation slightly.

"All right," I said. "Yes."

"Youre afraid that well be used for target practice? Hardly." He seemed momentarily amused.

I wandered about the destroyer until I found the galley. I made the coffee and sandwiches and returned with them to the bridge.

"Mothball fleet," he supplied.

A man entered from the chartroom behind me. He immediately walked over to me and removed my hands from the wheel.

"May I ask where this. . ."

He wore a uniform, but it seemed more a stewards or barmans dress than a naval officers. His face was not unimpressive: dark hair carefully brushed, a strong nose, good mouth and chin. I judged him to be in his late fifties.九九藏书网 He re-entered the chartroom. I followed him.

"But why?"

"Think a bit," he said. "Think first of shipyards. Think of hundreds of thousands of men in shipyards, on both coasts, building these ships. Think of the welders, the pipefitters, the electricians, naval architects, people in the Bureau of the Budget. Think of the launchings, each with its bottle of champagne on a cord of plaited ribbons hurled at the bow by the wife of some high official. Think of the first sailors coming aboard, the sea trials, the captains for whom a particular ship was a first command. Each ship has a history, no ship is without its history. Think of the six-inch guns shaking a particular ship as they were fired, the jets leaving the deck of the carrier at tightly spaced intervals, the maneuvering of the cruisers during this or that engagement, the damage taken. Think of each ships log faithfully kept over the years, think of the Official Naval History which now runs, I am told, to three hundred some-odd very large volumes.

"If its a matter of sealed orders or something. . ."

"May I ask your rank?"

It was now about six-thirty; the fog was breaking up, a little. I decided to climb to the bridge. I entered the wheelhouse; there was no one at the wheel. I took the wheel in my hands, tried to turn it a point or two, experimentally; it was locked in place.