416 | JohnW. Warner IV At the northern spit of Midway Atoll, Bea put the Bear down on a long sandy stretch of beach after the Crazy Horse had disengaged from below. Landing buffers set to a standard three meters, she shut down all switches on the panel. AU stop. Warm moist salt air filtered in from the forward stairs, displacing the cold, dry air conditioning. Laysan albatrosses were interspersed with their chicks; a Great Frigatebird peered in from the stairways edge, tilting its head with curiosity. It squawked. Hello, bird, said Bea as her heart warmed. Oh, how sweet! said Alice in high pitch. Schafer and Geer examined the galley. Orange rice, unidentified flat bread, strange fruits by the score, and a green vegetable soup thats delicious. Where did we obtain such fresh stores? asked Ernst, tasting everything. Geer slurped cold soup. I dont remember, no one can. Cilantro and nut paste, this is haute cuisine. Schafer let go a handful of rice through his fingers. I hope the Americans let us go home after the war. Alice kissed Beas cheek. Land ho! Lovely holiday with you as always. She hugged her. You said it. Bea then saluted Simpson in a nonchalant fashion. Herr Kappy-tain. Simpson shook their hands. Ladies, an honor. He then went to the Tellus to examine it. Amazing stuff, pretty fancy gear for the Germans. Bea and Alice fled down the stairway, giggling. Bernie twisted a dial or two. Thats because its not German. Its a 15,000 year- old gizmo. Wait till you see the engine room, they really Fifteen thousand? Look, where the hell have you been, Bern? Its been ten months since you left Cairo. Youre damned lucky we had someone at HYPO checking that frequency daily, most of us had given up on you months ago. I was at Pearl on other business; it was dumb luck we had the Crazy Horse in a hangar ready to go and an escorted cruiser on patrol in the Midway area. The Horse can achieve 680 mph and 50,000 feet altitude now, it was headed for an important mainland Japan reconnaissance with me on board. I took a big risk and guessed you had stolen a valuable German aircraft of some type, maybe an airship, so I had to scramble en route to get this rescue operation in gear, the admirals were all over my ass with questions and roadblocks. Security posed a problem, so I radioed Train who called King who then called Nimitz, who finally gave