Anchovy Peaches XI - Songs in the Darkness
Anchovy Peaches XI - Songs in the Darkness
Rain had returned. It felt odd, the rain on her face instead of pinging off her mask. But they'd removed it. She'd initially panicked, thinking she'd go blind without it. Now she realized it only helped her use her weapons. With them gone, her eyes were good enough to see. It felt strange, too bright, without the familiar target overlay. There had been no ripping and tearing as she'd assumed the removal of such an integral part of her entire purpose in life would require. A few supports cut by the battleship's crew from inside her bridge, and the battleship lifted it away.
She was glad of the rain. Her tears shamed her, but she could do nothing about them. She understood the cruelty of the attack, to establish dominance and to defeat an enemy. She hated being so weak that she'd she crumbled immediately. What escaped her understanding was the gentleness that followed. None of the other ship-girls abused her to ensure she understood her place in their pecking order. The battleship allowed them to offer HER food, drink, and the touches had been oddly muted, oddly pleasant. The destroyer had actually made the battleship crouch so she could clean the cruiser's face. The destroyer had even yelled at the battleship when it seemed ready to destroy her mask. Such a discussion between Abyssals would have been shells flying, or the battleship striking down the errant destroyer.
Instead, the battleship gave her mask to the destroyer 'for when the cruiser would need it again'? What madness was that? She would need guns and torpedoes to ever need the mask again, and that wouldn't happen, would it? The destroyer carefully stowed the mask and the disagreement seemed to be instantly forgotten.
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee."
What is this? She wondered. The rumble through the battleship going along with the loud words made her feel funny. He's loud, but not angry? she wondered.
"The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy."
Is the Battleship casting a spell against the storm? How does a lake compare to this vast ocean?
"With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty. That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early."
A paen in defiance of the Abyss?
"The ship was the pride of the American side coming back from some mill in Wisconsin. As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most with a crew and good captain well seasoned."
The others join in. Do all ship-girls know this?
"Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms when they left fully loaded for Cleveland, then later that night when the ship's bell rang could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?"
I've been in those storms.
"The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound when the wave broke over the railing."
Definitely been in those storms.
"And every man knew, as the captain did too 'twas the witch of November come stealin'."
There's something that directs those storms! Does the Abyss know this?
"The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait when the gales of November came slashin'. When afternoon came it was freezing rain in the face of a hurricane west wind."
Definitely a litany against some higher power. Do they deploy it against the Abyss? Why now? Are my sisters coming back. No, they aren't preparing for battle.
"When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck saying, "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya." At seven PM a main hatchway caved in he said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya."
So the Witch is claiming the ship, and the humans aboard know it. Why don't they run away?
"The captain wired in he had water comin' in and the good ship and crew was in peril and later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Why would they stay with a ship they knew was doomed? My sisters abandoned me when I could serve no further purpose for them.
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay if they'd put fifteen more miles behind her."
Wait, they were that afraid, and they were trying to SAVE the ship? Were they stupid? Had they gone mad?
"They might have split up or they might have capsized, they may have broke deep and took water, and all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters."
What kind of litany is this? They lost? How can you defy the Abyss when you lose?
"Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings in the rooms of her ice-water mansion, Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams the islands and bays are for sportsmen, and farther below, Lake Ontario takes in what Lake Erie can send her and the iron boats go as the mariners all know with the gales of November remembered."
I've never heard of this 'Superior' Princess, was the Edmund Fitzgerald a sacrifice to her. Have the humans made a pact with this creature. A princess none of us have been told of! Is she an enemy of the Abyss? She preys on humans so . . . the Abyss has a grudge against humans. That thing eats them and their ships.
Could it eat Abyssals too? Do they know it and are summoning it here? To let it eat me, or maybe to summon it against my princess? Is that why they let me live, to sacrifice me to November Superior Princess?
"In a rustic old hall in Detroit they prayed in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral. The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald."
By the deep, I've heard of dinner bells! It is a summoning! They're going to call it down to eat Abyssals!
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Superior, they said, never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early."
Please no! I don't want to die. I don't want the November Superior Princess to eat me! I surrendered, doesn't that mean anything? You promised if I surrendered you wouldn't hurt me!
But you never promised you wouldn't give me unhurt to the November Superior Princess! I'm such a fool to have not accepted death when I had a chance. You were just making me a perfect sacrifice for your own Abyss.
------------------------------
The creature would have sent any topologist off to drink themselves insensate or check into a hospital. It was pleased that the damage to the boilers and fuel tanks had been completely repaired. Even more that some bunker fuel had been transferred. It glanced over at the tentacled engineers from the Gordon and appreciated the help and resources they'd provided.
They only needed one boiler, so the others were being cleaned for later use.
The Gordon's lead engineer approached, a bottle of brownish liquid gripped in a long tentacle. "Yo," it said, offering the bottle and accepting the congratulations.
The Chi's engineer took a swig and enjoyed the pleasant burning sensation. "GearA," repaying the compliment. But melancholy took the front row seat. "GearA."
The Gordon's chief engineer cocked its head and looked at the Chi's engineer. "Yo?"
The Chi's chief engineer was fatalistic, it knew the fate of those who'd failed the Abyss or its Princesses. "GearA," it said, and mimed an explosion.
The Gordon's Chief Engineer set its cap forward on it head, pulled the bottle from the Chi chief's hand, and recorked it while speaking in tone likes lead plates in the depths, "Yo, Yo. YoYo, Yo."
The Chi's stokers and engineers had stopped their work and were staring at the Gordon's chief, who was so angry his tentacles were writhing.
"Yo," the tentacled chief called to one of the odd guards.
"YoRA," the guard replied.
The chief stormed over like an angry Demon. "Yo. Yo. Yo. YO!"
The guard seemed to shrink in on itself. "yora," it said and straightened up when the Chief withdrew.
"YoRA," the guard reported, and really confused the Chi's engineer as the Gordon's chief got on the 1MC.
"Yo, YoYo. Yo. Yo Yo Yo," it announced, and the message echoed through the ship. While he was obviously still furious, he patted the Chi's chief on the shoulder and nodded to him.
The chief looked around the engine room. He could understand a meeting with all the department heads, but there were no forged parts needing replacement. Why did they need a smith?
------------------------------
The rain had slackened and the promise of a new day had begun. The Chi was stunned that she was still alive, she'd been repaired, even her arm, and it seemed that she'd soon be almost fully restored, save her weapons and sensors. That the work had all been done by her crew, rather than the drydock's seemed amazing.
"The day the river freezes is the day it won't seem fair, 'cause they'll come to get the River Lady and I don't think they'll care."
Why should they, they treat ships as expendable tools?
"I know they'll scrape her paint off in their same old foolish ways."
Sounds about right.
"Now the people see the river but the old ship's gone away."
Why the concern?
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
What ships are for. Are they trying to summon something else? The November Superior Princess didn't show up. Are their Princesses in Rivers? What else has the Abyss kept from us?
"Off in the mist her engine's poundin' back on the banks that old horn's soundin' a little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do. A little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do."
Okay, the others are just listening, is this some ritual to greet the day, to mark the dawn? It sounds like a funeral dirge. It can't be one for the ship, she thought.
"I know I will remember when I cannot hear that horn that would roll up by the mountains as she took us through the storm."
Maybe it is. If humans really cared about ships, why does the Abyss have a hold on us? Why do the Abyss' teachings seem so right?
"I know they've got to take her but I can't say I approve 'cause she's won so many battles that I hate to see her lose."
Ah ha! she realized, You feel bad, but you aren't willing to fight for a ship! This is all just virtue signaling, oh look how much I care about a missing ship, boohoo. And I almost fell for the trick. By the Abyss I'm stupid.
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
It's just a small icebreaker doing her job. No wonder my sisters abandoned me. I'm so gullible.
"A little goodbye a little I'll do, what I must do."
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
"Off in the mist her engine's boundin' back on the banks that old horn's soundin' a little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do,"
Yep ice breaking is dangerous, she thought, No reason to get maudlin over it.
"A little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do."
------------------------------
The Chi-class was aware of the meeting in her bridge. She could finally feel her body again. Something the battleship had taken away from her, and now gave back. She'd never considered getting the leaders from each section of the ship together to discuss. She was given orders, she in turn gave orders to her crew, and things got done. If the orders did not produce the desired results, she was disciplined and then drilled the crew.
The idea something needed discussion stunned her.
The idea that the battleship who had battered her into petrifying terror and surrender had not one but two types of Abyssal crew aboard shocked her to her core.
"Rivendell," the crewman said, explaining the possibility of cooperation, surrender and clemency, "Mister Andersen," and that he had given up, not been forced to denounce the Abyss.
"Floyd," the other crewman added that they had disarmed and captured her, as long as she behaved, they HAD to keep her safe and healthy.
She couldn't believe it.
"Yo," the Gordon's Chief Engineer explained that they were even permitted to try to escape, and as long as they weren't committing sabotage, again the rules made what they did legal.
She could hardly believe such insanity.
"YoRA?" the Marine asked the department heads themselves.
The department heads had suddenly been thrust into the possibility that whatever action they took at this moment was neither mutiny, nor barratry, they each had to be permitted to make their decision for themselves. She had no right to do more than ask.
The conversation among her department heads shocked her. They were discussing what SHE would be allowed to do, what guarantees they would have to make to allow HER the greatest freedom.
"Floyd," the strange Abyssal said.
And she felt a deep and abiding horror. That an Abyssal would love another, be punished for it, and then even love the ship-girl she turned into. That this very battleship and crew had turned her into and was working on reuniting the lovers.
She left them to their discussions and tried to flee from herself. It was insane. The idea that the beating she'd taken was not to throw her crippled and helpless onto a beach and tear her to pieces for the delight of others. That the intention was to drag each and every Abyssal who would come out of the darkness. And that her crew, the creatures she'd barely noticed, were doing all in their power to preserve not only her life, but a modicum of her freedom. At little to no benefit to themselves.
She had faced madness in the face of the Abyss. She had faced the cruelties of Princesses and Demons who regarded her and her class as expendable for the Abyss' victory and glory. Those made sense in a twisted way. She could not understand how an underling, given a chance to revenge themselves on their master, would turn not away but toward. She couldn't understand why acknowledging that made her hurt worse than the bombs and blows which had crippled her.
------------------------------
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men."
The terrified cruiser decided to take refuge in these strange paens to the ship-girls' unknown gods the battleship kept offering up. They made little sense so she could revel in their harmless self-delusion.
"Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Is this about a bird?
"She went down last October in a pouring driving rain. The skipper, he'd been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain. Too close to Three Mile Rock, and she was dealt her mortal blow and the Mary Ellen Carter settled low."
Oh, it is about a ship.
"There were five of us aboard her when she finally was awash. We'd worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost. And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim that the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again."
What? Humans risking themselves for a ship? What are they going to do after the ship sinks? Stand around and cry?
"Well, the owners wrote her off; not a nickel would they spend."
Typical.
"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end. But insurance paid the loss to us so let her rest below. Then they laughed at us and said we had to go."
Oh, what a surprise.
"But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock for she's worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock. And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain and make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
What are you talking about? Fine, you have a couple humans who might care about a ship, but the boat's sunk, get over it.
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men. Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Okay, the others know this one. It's a nice thought, but it's a tale for little ones, like the ice breaker. You don't care, you just want to seem like you care.
"All spring, now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend. Three dives a day in hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends."
WHAT!?
"Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow or I'd never have the strength to go below."
Oh, so you would give up on a ship. I am so gullible.
"But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down. Put cables to her, 'fore and aft and girded her around. Tomorrow, noon, we'll hit the air and then take up the strain. And make the Mary Ellen Carter Rise Again."
You're going to what? How do you unsink a ship?
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men. Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Forget how would you, why would you? What do you care about ships, they're just things to you?
"For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale. She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gales and the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave they won't be laughing in another day. . ."
No. This is just a story. The Abyss can't be right and wrong about humans.
"And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain and like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
This can't be real.
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken and life about to end no matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend. Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
It's a story, it's not real.
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken and life about to end no matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend. Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
It's a story, it's not real.
It's a story, it's not real.
It's a story, it's not real.
But she didn't believe it.
Rain had returned. It felt odd, the rain on her face instead of pinging off her mask. But they'd removed it. She'd initially panicked, thinking she'd go blind without it. Now she realized it only helped her use her weapons. With them gone, her eyes were good enough to see. It felt strange, too bright, without the familiar target overlay. There had been no ripping and tearing as she'd assumed the removal of such an integral part of her entire purpose in life would require. A few supports cut by the battleship's crew from inside her bridge, and the battleship lifted it away.
She was glad of the rain. Her tears shamed her, but she could do nothing about them. She understood the cruelty of the attack, to establish dominance and to defeat an enemy. She hated being so weak that she'd she crumbled immediately. What escaped her understanding was the gentleness that followed. None of the other ship-girls abused her to ensure she understood her place in their pecking order. The battleship allowed them to offer HER food, drink, and the touches had been oddly muted, oddly pleasant. The destroyer had actually made the battleship crouch so she could clean the cruiser's face. The destroyer had even yelled at the battleship when it seemed ready to destroy her mask. Such a discussion between Abyssals would have been shells flying, or the battleship striking down the errant destroyer.
Instead, the battleship gave her mask to the destroyer 'for when the cruiser would need it again'? What madness was that? She would need guns and torpedoes to ever need the mask again, and that wouldn't happen, would it? The destroyer carefully stowed the mask and the disagreement seemed to be instantly forgotten.
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee."
What is this? She wondered. The rumble through the battleship going along with the loud words made her feel funny. He's loud, but not angry? she wondered.
"The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy."
Is the Battleship casting a spell against the storm? How does a lake compare to this vast ocean?
"With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty. That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early."
A paen in defiance of the Abyss?
"The ship was the pride of the American side coming back from some mill in Wisconsin. As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most with a crew and good captain well seasoned."
The others join in. Do all ship-girls know this?
"Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms when they left fully loaded for Cleveland, then later that night when the ship's bell rang could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?"
I've been in those storms.
"The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound when the wave broke over the railing."
Definitely been in those storms.
"And every man knew, as the captain did too 'twas the witch of November come stealin'."
There's something that directs those storms! Does the Abyss know this?
"The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait when the gales of November came slashin'. When afternoon came it was freezing rain in the face of a hurricane west wind."
Definitely a litany against some higher power. Do they deploy it against the Abyss? Why now? Are my sisters coming back. No, they aren't preparing for battle.
"When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck saying, "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya." At seven PM a main hatchway caved in he said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya."
So the Witch is claiming the ship, and the humans aboard know it. Why don't they run away?
"The captain wired in he had water comin' in and the good ship and crew was in peril and later that night when his lights went out of sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Why would they stay with a ship they knew was doomed? My sisters abandoned me when I could serve no further purpose for them.
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours? The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay if they'd put fifteen more miles behind her."
Wait, they were that afraid, and they were trying to SAVE the ship? Were they stupid? Had they gone mad?
"They might have split up or they might have capsized, they may have broke deep and took water, and all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters."
What kind of litany is this? They lost? How can you defy the Abyss when you lose?
"Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings in the rooms of her ice-water mansion, Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams the islands and bays are for sportsmen, and farther below, Lake Ontario takes in what Lake Erie can send her and the iron boats go as the mariners all know with the gales of November remembered."
I've never heard of this 'Superior' Princess, was the Edmund Fitzgerald a sacrifice to her. Have the humans made a pact with this creature. A princess none of us have been told of! Is she an enemy of the Abyss? She preys on humans so . . . the Abyss has a grudge against humans. That thing eats them and their ships.
Could it eat Abyssals too? Do they know it and are summoning it here? To let it eat me, or maybe to summon it against my princess? Is that why they let me live, to sacrifice me to November Superior Princess?
"In a rustic old hall in Detroit they prayed in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral. The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald."
By the deep, I've heard of dinner bells! It is a summoning! They're going to call it down to eat Abyssals!
"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. Superior, they said, never gives up her dead when the gales of November come early."
Please no! I don't want to die. I don't want the November Superior Princess to eat me! I surrendered, doesn't that mean anything? You promised if I surrendered you wouldn't hurt me!
But you never promised you wouldn't give me unhurt to the November Superior Princess! I'm such a fool to have not accepted death when I had a chance. You were just making me a perfect sacrifice for your own Abyss.
Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
------------------------------
The creature would have sent any topologist off to drink themselves insensate or check into a hospital. It was pleased that the damage to the boilers and fuel tanks had been completely repaired. Even more that some bunker fuel had been transferred. It glanced over at the tentacled engineers from the Gordon and appreciated the help and resources they'd provided.
They only needed one boiler, so the others were being cleaned for later use.
The Gordon's lead engineer approached, a bottle of brownish liquid gripped in a long tentacle. "Yo," it said, offering the bottle and accepting the congratulations.
The Chi's engineer took a swig and enjoyed the pleasant burning sensation. "GearA," repaying the compliment. But melancholy took the front row seat. "GearA."
The Gordon's chief engineer cocked its head and looked at the Chi's engineer. "Yo?"
The Chi's chief engineer was fatalistic, it knew the fate of those who'd failed the Abyss or its Princesses. "GearA," it said, and mimed an explosion.
The Gordon's Chief Engineer set its cap forward on it head, pulled the bottle from the Chi chief's hand, and recorked it while speaking in tone likes lead plates in the depths, "Yo, Yo. YoYo, Yo."
The Chi's stokers and engineers had stopped their work and were staring at the Gordon's chief, who was so angry his tentacles were writhing.
"Yo," the tentacled chief called to one of the odd guards.
"YoRA," the guard replied.
The chief stormed over like an angry Demon. "Yo. Yo. Yo. YO!"
The guard seemed to shrink in on itself. "yora," it said and straightened up when the Chief withdrew.
"YoRA," the guard reported, and really confused the Chi's engineer as the Gordon's chief got on the 1MC.
"Yo, YoYo. Yo. Yo Yo Yo," it announced, and the message echoed through the ship. While he was obviously still furious, he patted the Chi's chief on the shoulder and nodded to him.
The chief looked around the engine room. He could understand a meeting with all the department heads, but there were no forged parts needing replacement. Why did they need a smith?
------------------------------
The rain had slackened and the promise of a new day had begun. The Chi was stunned that she was still alive, she'd been repaired, even her arm, and it seemed that she'd soon be almost fully restored, save her weapons and sensors. That the work had all been done by her crew, rather than the drydock's seemed amazing.
"The day the river freezes is the day it won't seem fair, 'cause they'll come to get the River Lady and I don't think they'll care."
Why should they, they treat ships as expendable tools?
"I know they'll scrape her paint off in their same old foolish ways."
Sounds about right.
"Now the people see the river but the old ship's gone away."
Why the concern?
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
What ships are for. Are they trying to summon something else? The November Superior Princess didn't show up. Are their Princesses in Rivers? What else has the Abyss kept from us?
"Off in the mist her engine's poundin' back on the banks that old horn's soundin' a little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do. A little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do."
Okay, the others are just listening, is this some ritual to greet the day, to mark the dawn? It sounds like a funeral dirge. It can't be one for the ship, she thought.
"I know I will remember when I cannot hear that horn that would roll up by the mountains as she took us through the storm."
Maybe it is. If humans really cared about ships, why does the Abyss have a hold on us? Why do the Abyss' teachings seem so right?
"I know they've got to take her but I can't say I approve 'cause she's won so many battles that I hate to see her lose."
Ah ha! she realized, You feel bad, but you aren't willing to fight for a ship! This is all just virtue signaling, oh look how much I care about a missing ship, boohoo. And I almost fell for the trick. By the Abyss I'm stupid.
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
It's just a small icebreaker doing her job. No wonder my sisters abandoned me. I'm so gullible.
"A little goodbye a little I'll do, what I must do."
"Water turns cold and gets ta freezin' before you even know it the old girl's easin' away from her berth round by the point and out of our view."
"Off in the mist her engine's boundin' back on the banks that old horn's soundin' a little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do,"
Yep ice breaking is dangerous, she thought, No reason to get maudlin over it.
"A little goodbye a little I'll do what I must do."
Roger Whittaker - The River Lady
------------------------------
The Chi-class was aware of the meeting in her bridge. She could finally feel her body again. Something the battleship had taken away from her, and now gave back. She'd never considered getting the leaders from each section of the ship together to discuss. She was given orders, she in turn gave orders to her crew, and things got done. If the orders did not produce the desired results, she was disciplined and then drilled the crew.
The idea something needed discussion stunned her.
The idea that the battleship who had battered her into petrifying terror and surrender had not one but two types of Abyssal crew aboard shocked her to her core.
"Rivendell," the crewman said, explaining the possibility of cooperation, surrender and clemency, "Mister Andersen," and that he had given up, not been forced to denounce the Abyss.
"Floyd," the other crewman added that they had disarmed and captured her, as long as she behaved, they HAD to keep her safe and healthy.
She couldn't believe it.
"Yo," the Gordon's Chief Engineer explained that they were even permitted to try to escape, and as long as they weren't committing sabotage, again the rules made what they did legal.
She could hardly believe such insanity.
"YoRA?" the Marine asked the department heads themselves.
The department heads had suddenly been thrust into the possibility that whatever action they took at this moment was neither mutiny, nor barratry, they each had to be permitted to make their decision for themselves. She had no right to do more than ask.
The conversation among her department heads shocked her. They were discussing what SHE would be allowed to do, what guarantees they would have to make to allow HER the greatest freedom.
"Floyd," the strange Abyssal said.
And she felt a deep and abiding horror. That an Abyssal would love another, be punished for it, and then even love the ship-girl she turned into. That this very battleship and crew had turned her into and was working on reuniting the lovers.
She left them to their discussions and tried to flee from herself. It was insane. The idea that the beating she'd taken was not to throw her crippled and helpless onto a beach and tear her to pieces for the delight of others. That the intention was to drag each and every Abyssal who would come out of the darkness. And that her crew, the creatures she'd barely noticed, were doing all in their power to preserve not only her life, but a modicum of her freedom. At little to no benefit to themselves.
She had faced madness in the face of the Abyss. She had faced the cruelties of Princesses and Demons who regarded her and her class as expendable for the Abyss' victory and glory. Those made sense in a twisted way. She could not understand how an underling, given a chance to revenge themselves on their master, would turn not away but toward. She couldn't understand why acknowledging that made her hurt worse than the bombs and blows which had crippled her.
------------------------------
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men."
The terrified cruiser decided to take refuge in these strange paens to the ship-girls' unknown gods the battleship kept offering up. They made little sense so she could revel in their harmless self-delusion.
"Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Is this about a bird?
"She went down last October in a pouring driving rain. The skipper, he'd been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain. Too close to Three Mile Rock, and she was dealt her mortal blow and the Mary Ellen Carter settled low."
Oh, it is about a ship.
"There were five of us aboard her when she finally was awash. We'd worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost. And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim that the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again."
What? Humans risking themselves for a ship? What are they going to do after the ship sinks? Stand around and cry?
"Well, the owners wrote her off; not a nickel would they spend."
Typical.
"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end. But insurance paid the loss to us so let her rest below. Then they laughed at us and said we had to go."
Oh, what a surprise.
"But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock for she's worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock. And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain and make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
What are you talking about? Fine, you have a couple humans who might care about a ship, but the boat's sunk, get over it.
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men. Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Okay, the others know this one. It's a nice thought, but it's a tale for little ones, like the ice breaker. You don't care, you just want to seem like you care.
"All spring, now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend. Three dives a day in hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends."
WHAT!?
"Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow or I'd never have the strength to go below."
Oh, so you would give up on a ship. I am so gullible.
"But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down. Put cables to her, 'fore and aft and girded her around. Tomorrow, noon, we'll hit the air and then take up the strain. And make the Mary Ellen Carter Rise Again."
You're going to what? How do you unsink a ship?
"Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost to the knowledge of men. Those who loved her best and were with her till the end will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again."
Forget how would you, why would you? What do you care about ships, they're just things to you?
"For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale. She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gales and the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave they won't be laughing in another day. . ."
No. This is just a story. The Abyss can't be right and wrong about humans.
"And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain and like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
This can't be real.
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken and life about to end no matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend. Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
It's a story, it's not real.
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken and life about to end no matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend. Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."
It's a story, it's not real.
It's a story, it's not real.
It's a story, it's not real.
But she didn't believe it.
Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
Roger Whittaker - The River Lady
Stan Rodgers - Mary Ellen Carter