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The U.S.S. Lexington was on her way to Pearl, when the
Typhoon struck. Now, the state of the art Missile ship was being
pounded by 25 foot waves. Her master
ordered a change of course,
bringing her toward the western coast of Maui. The idea
was to enter Maalaea Bay. This would offer a safe haven
until the storm passed. The ship entered calmer water as it
slid into Maalaea. In the distance, the sky glowed with ruddy
orange light as Haleakala continued it's eruption...Washed out with
every flash of lightning. The ship was now safe to anchor.
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In the lounge, the
vacation sect was thinning. It was 11:00 pm, after all. Max
was still there, continuing
his paper odyssey. "Why don't you give it a rest, for
a while?" Startled, Max looked up to see Tammy. She had
again joined the table. He didn't know what
to make of her. The woman
was obviously a mix of island and Asian decent, probably
well connected with island lore. Hince the comment made earlier. "You
can crunch data all night, the volcano will still be there." She
continued. " I guess, you're right." He said, looking to his watch.
But, that nagging question finnally got the best of him, and he
added "So, what kind of bad thing, are they expecting?" "Excuse me"'
She puzzled. "The locals. You said they thought, something bad was comming."
With this, the woman looked about the room. Seeing it largely
empty, she sat down at the table. "Did you ever hear about the
big disaster in Japan, back in 1952?" "The Tokyo earthquakes? Of course
I have" With his reply, Tammy rolled her eyes, then continued.
"Earthquakes? Maybe...But the
Japaneese who survived it, say differently." Now it was Max's turn
to scoff. "You look like an intelligent girl. Surely, you don't
believe that old monster story."
Her expression flattened. Max
never noticed, and continued. " Yeah, I heared that one, A giant
dino-thingy flattened the city. That was all chalked up to
mass hysteria." Tammy's dull
expression turned to anger
as she fired. "I lost family in that event, Mr. Harrison!"
With that, she stormed from the table. Max, upset with his
foot in mouth remarks, decided it was time to leave. He
gathered up his paperwork and headed to his room.
Too bad, he thought. She
was cute, too.
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Maalaea bay: 1:45 am.
The Lexington was quiet as the graveyard shift kept watch. The
storm (as it turned out ) had changed direction and was heading
to the East. Taking with it, the worst of the weather. But the
rain and lighting continued...So did the angry mountain. Suddenly without
warning, a horrible rumble issued fourth from under the
bay! The warship heaved as the angry waters began to glow
in reddened hue. The volcano must have blown out the bottom of
Maalaea!
The startled night watch
sounded General Quarters, and the ship spang to life. Engines
thrown into reverse even as the anchor was haul in. The
sleepy captain rounded the corner to the bridge...Just in time
to see the waters under his ship turn blue white with
a blinding flash! All that would be left of the mighty
ship would be a short "mayday" call sent out to anyone
in the vacinity.
--- ---
White Sands Hotel, Room
140, 5:15 am. Max heard bells...Then realized that the phone was
ringing off it's hook. He tried to ignore it, then his cell
phone went off. "All right, already...I'm up, I think." He mumbled,
grabbing for the cell phone.
"Yeah, whaddo-u-want? " he answered.
"I'm sending Sue over to get you, is she there yet?!" The
excited voice on the other end fired. With this, the hotel
phone started ringing again, Max looked over to it, answering to
his cell. "Yeah, I think so... Murph, do you have any idea, what time it is?!" He questioned,
looking at the clock. "5:15. Why?" "The birds aren't even up,
yet! What's the big deal?!"
"Maalaea Bay, that's what!
We gotta get there A.S.A.P.! Now get off the cell and answer
the hotel desk, would ya?!" Murphy hurried. "All right, I'm going!" As
he hung up, answering the lobby. Within 15 minutes, Max too, was
at the lobby to meet Murphy's associate. After another ride
through Honolulu ( during which, Sue filled it the blanks about the
Lexigton's loss.)
It was off with Murphy
to Maui via helicopter...Only to jump a cabin cruiser that he
had already chartered. By 12:30, the group was in Maalaea bay for themselves.
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