Lieutenant Howard, in turn, explained the American system of government to Mr. Reeves, who actually seemed interested.
Lieutenant Howard also shared his detailed knowledge of Japanese aircraft with Mr. Reeves and Sergeant Koffler. And Sergeant Koffler tried to explain the theory of radio wave transmission, but with virtually no success.
He gave the binoculars back to Ian, who kept them to his eyes until he was able to announce, with certainty, "Bettys. I make them thirty-five."
"I counted thirty," Steve said, putting the glasses to his eyes again.
Ian was right. There were thirty-five.
And the aircraft flying above them were Zeroes.
The Zero was the standard Japanese fighter aircraft, also manufactured by Mitsubishi, and officially designated the A6M. It was powered by a Nakijima 14-cylinder 925-horsepower engine, and was armed with two 20mm Oerlikon machine cannon and two machine guns, firing the British.303 rifle cartridge.
According to Lieutenant Howard it was a better airplane than anything the Americans or the English had. It was more maneuverable, and the 20mm cannons were not only more powerful but had greater range than the.50 caliber Browning machine guns on Navy and Marine aircraft.
"I count forty Zeroes," Steve said. "I'll get started. If anything else shows up, let me know."
"Right!" Ian said crisply.
Steve went down the knotted rope and walked to where the radio was kept, broken down. That way they could run with it if that became necessary.
He spotted Edward James and whistled at him. When he had his attention, he made a cranking motion with his hands.
Edward James popped to attention and saluted crisply.
"Sir!" he barked.
When he popped to attention, one of the two MACHETES, SUBSTITUTE STANDARD, he had hanging from his belt swung violently.
"Another inch and you'd have cut your balls off," Steve said.
It took Edward James a moment to make the translation into what he thought of as proper English.
"Quite, Sir," he said.
He then disappeared into the bush. When he returned a moment later he was carefully carrying a device that looked something like a bicycle. It was in fact the generator that powered Steve's radios. They originally jumped in with two. But one of these was now worn out beyond repair-both physically (the bearings were shot) and electrically (the coils were shorted). How long the other would last, nobody knew. Steve would not have been surprised if it failed to work now.
By the time Edward James returned with the generator, Steve had the radio connected to the antennae. Edward James proudly connected the generator leads to the radio and then went to string the antennae between trees.
Steve took out the code book-also on its last legs and just barely legible-and wrote out his message. He then encoded it.
By the time he was finished, Edward James was back. Steve made the cranking motion again.
"Right, Sir!" Edward James said. He got aboard the generator and started slowly and powerfully pushing its pedals. In a moment the dials on the radio lit up. Steve put earphones on his head, adjusted the position of the telegraph key, and threw the switch on the Hallicrafters to TRANSMIT. Then he put his hand on the key.
The dots and dashes went out, repeated three times, spelling simply:
FRD6. FRD6. FRD6.
Detachment A of Special Marine Corps Detachment 14 is attempting to establish contact with any station on this communications network.
This time, for a change, there was an immediate reply.
FRD6.KCY.FRD6.KCY.FRD6.KCY.
Hello, Detachment A, this is the United States Pacific Fleet Radio Station at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, responding to your call.
KCY. PRD6. SB CODE.
CINCPAC Radio Pearl Harbor, stand by to copy encrypted message.
When he was at Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Howard once told him, he'd pulled guard duty a couple of times-he was sergeant of the guard-and got a look at CINCPAC Radio. It was in an air-conditioned building, so the equipment wouldn't get too hot. It made it nice for the operators too.
FRD6. KCY. GA.
CINCPAC Radio to Detachment A: Go ahead.
The information that thirty-five Bettys, escorted by forty Zeroes, out of Rabaul and on a course that would take them to Guadalcanal, had just passed overhead at approximately 15,000 feet was encoded on a sheet of damp paper. Sergeant Koffler put the sheet under his left hand and pointed his index finger at the first block of five characters.
As his right hand worked the telegrapher's key, his index finger swept across the coded message. It is more difficult to transmit code than plain English, for the simple reason that code doesn't make any sense.
It took him just over a minute, not quite long enough for the Japanese to locate the transmitter by triangulation, before he sent, in the clear, END.
FRD6. KCY. AKN. CLR.
Detachment A, this is Pearl Harbor. Your transmission is acknowledged.
Pearl Harbor Clear.
Steve made a cutting motion across his throat, and Edward James stopped pumping the generator pedals.
Steve watched as Edward James proudly disconnected the generator leads from the Hallicrafters and then smiled at him.
As Edward James left the hut, Miss Patience Witherspoon came in. She carried a plate on which was a piece of cold roast pork (though it took quite a stretch of his imagination to identify it as such) and a baked vegetable, something like a stringy sweet potato, also cold. It tasted like stringy soap.
"Perhaps," Patience said gently, once she saw the look on his face, "they will be able to get something you will like from the Japanese." And perhaps they've already had their heads cut off by the fucking Japs... after telling them where to find us, when the Japs sliced their balls off.
Ah, shit, she means well. I don't want to hurt her feelings.
"This is fine, Patience," he said. "And I'm starved." She lowered her head modestly and crossed her hands over her breasts. The motion served to bring her breasts to Koffler's attention. with their shape, of the large nipples.
And then he had a thought that really frightened him: With the officers gone, no one would ever know, if I fucked her.
Chapter Four
[One]