"Aye, aye, sir!"
"This is not the Yataritas Beach we all know—apparently!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" the voices were low, hesitant, yet sure.
"The Caribbean has disappeared!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"No jets! No APD! No anything we know—except sand!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"And we have no communication with anything, anywhere. I've no idea what we ran into, but it happened just as we hit the beach." I looked at my watch. "And one more thing. We landed about ten minutes ago, at nine hundred. The sun says it's nearly thirteen hundred. My watch says it's oh-nine-twelve exactly."
Officers and men looked at their wrist-watches.
"Aye, aye, sir!" They all agreed to that.