Logan has created chaos on the deck of the Horizon and no one was sure of what he was doing.
What everyone on deck found themselves doing was watching Logan at a distance that was becoming greater as the Horizon drifted. It became difficult to see what Logan was doing.
He went down and came back up a few minutes later. Each time he came up, he held onto the side of the lifeboat for longer before diving a third and then fourth time. He stayed up longer.
Clay leaned on the railing beside Sidney, who leaned beside Rolf, who leaned beside Greek.
Clay was sure he knew what Logan was doing. The fourth time he came back up to hold onto the side of the lifeboat, he looked like a drowned cat. Clay was sure that Logan would drown himself in an effort to save whatever he had it in mind to save. When it came to what he'd do in case like this, the leaning stopped. The light came on.
Logan was going about this all wrong. He didn't have the right tools. As Clay stopped leaning, he was beat to it by Sidney Peacock, who stopped leaning at the same instant and he went directly to the inside passageway with Clay right behind him, “I'm not sure what's down there,” Clay said.
Captain Hertzog stood on the catwalk watching the activity going on around the lifeboat.
Bill was standing next to him, watching his filmmaker.
“He's going to drown himself,” Bill said to the captain.
“Boy's going to drown himself,” Rolf said. “He can't hold enough air in his lungs to do whatever he's trying to do.”
As Rolf piped up, Dolf stood up in the lifeboat and shrugged when he realized he was being watched. He didn't know what to do either, but Logan went under again.
Clay had gone to the equipment locker to get SCUBA gear. When he rushed out on deck with two air tanks, Sidney was right behind him. He'd made the same calculation Clay made.
“Here. These are my best wire cutters. I want them back,” Sidney said as he flapped a pair of wire cutters into Clay's hand.
“Thanks,” Clay said, hanging his arm with an air tank in it over the railing and waving it up and down for Dolf to see.
“Why are we not moving?” one of the two engineers asked as the other one came on deck behind him.
Both held a hand up between the sun and their eyes.
The buzz of the lifeboat engine told Clay that Dolf understood and he was coming back for him. With the wire cutters tucked safely in his belt, he climbed over the side and into the bottom with tanks, flippers, and face masks.
He was knocked down when Dolf wheeled the boat around and sped back to where Logan was surfacing to discover there was no boat for him to hang onto. He looked toward the Horizon and watched what was going on. The lifeboat was on its way back before Logan could wonder where it went.
In another minute he was hearing Clay's soft voice.
“Get in the boat,” Clay growled at him and he reached down for Logan's arm and yanked him into the bottom of the lifeboat.
“Put this on. Here's your flippers and face mask. Don't stick me with that damn knife. You're dangerous, Logan,” Clay added as he got into his air tank and getting ready to dive.
“Where is it?” Clay asked, taking the wire cutters out of his belt.
Logan pointed to a few feet to the right of the boat.
“I can't cut through some kind of plastic. I think he's dying,” Logan said.
“You got my ass out here. He isn't going to die, you hear me. You go first. I'll follow you. Put the damn flippers on and watch that fucking knife.”
Dolf laughed at what sounded like a bad Laurel and Hardy comedy skit to him.
“Put your face mask on. Ill follow you,” Clay ordered.
Logan struggled to sit up but couldn't. Clay helped him get situated as he still took air in by the gulp.
“You look like the wreck of the Hesperus. You sure you can do this?” Clay asked.
“Don't worry about me. I'm fine,” Logan said, throwing himself and his underwater gear into the water.
Clay sat of the edge of the lifeboat and he looked at Dolf.
“Don't you go anywhere,” Clay said.
He put his face mask in place and rolled back into the water. He went the few feet after Logan to where the porpoise was about five feet under the surface. At first, he struggled to get out of the confines of the net. As soon as Logan took to cutting on the net, all motion stopped. The porpoise's big black eye was on Logan and his struggling stopped as Logan began his useless effort to cut through the plastic netting.
Clay looked for a spot where the plastic was tight to the porpoise's skin and only one layer. He went back toward the tail and began to use the wire cutters, working his way toward the creature’s head. By the time he'd cut three or four feet of the plastic away, Logan backed off and let Clay continued his successful cutting.
Clay cut more of the net in a couple of minutes than Logan cut in the life and death struggle to save the creature’s life.
Carefully holding the net off the body, Clay kept cutting the plastic in a straight line. He was cautious not to cut the creature’s skin. He was moving about a foot a minute and the porpoise hadn't moved by the time Clay was halfway done.
Logan was still in the water maybe five feet away. He watched Clay's patient cutting as the net began to fall free.
Clay wasn't sure the porpoise was still alive. Not so much as a muscle twitched. It didn't matter. He'd cut that net away as fast as he could. He patted the area he'd cut the net away from and continued to cut the plastic as he closed in on its head. Another couple of feet and he'd have him free.
Looking toward the motionless sea creature's head, he saw a single black porpoise eye on him. He was alive and aware that these strange creatures were trying to free him. His struggle to surface and get air ceased when he sensed that. His fate was in Clay's hands now.
Seeing the progress Clay was making, Logan let himself drift back up to the side of the lifeboat he could see a few feet above him. Hanging his arm over one side, he dropped the butcher knife and face mask into the boat. Giving up the mouthpiece, he breathed fresh air without having the energy to climb into the boat. He wasn't sure he had the strength to get into the boat.
“What's happening down there?” Dolf asked.
“Clay's getting him free. I can't cut anything with a knife. The net is some kind of plastic,” Logan said. “I was wasting my time.”
Easing out of the air tank he handed it up to Dolf.
“I need a minute before I'll need your help getting into the boat.”
“Sure,” Dolf said. “Take your time. Doesn't that thing need air? It hasn't come up since Clay went in a few minutes ago. They need to breathe just like we do, don't they?”
“It stopped struggling. It might be dead for all I know. We'll know in a few minutes. Clay was able to cut right through the plastic. He's taken his time so he doesn't hurt the thing.”
Dolf stood looking into the water. He saw shadows he thought was the porpoise and Clay. Neither figure seemed to be moving.
“You OK?” Dolf asked.
“I'll be OK. I don't know about the porpoise,” Logan said sadly. “I thought I could save it.”
It took an additional five minutes before Clay began to peal the netting away from the patient porpoise. He slipped the last of it off around his tail. The porpoise immediately shot up, bouncing off the side of the lifeboat and Logan Warren who squirted away.
The lifeboat rocked violently. The sudden motion tossed Dolf up against the far side and left him a bit shaken. He was quickly back on his feet wondering what to do.
The porpoise wasn't moving but Dolf heard it blowing air. It was probably resting after its ordeal. Its blow hole was out of the water. “Is it alive?” Logan asked.
“I can hear it breathing. You OK?”
“Yeah. I bounced off him. He didn't hurt me.”
Clay surfaced and dropped the wire cutters and his face mask into the boat. He watched the porpoise. It did not move.
“He's been without enough air for quite a while. Probably in shock at the moment. He's alive. Once he breathes fresh air for a few minutes, he'll start to revive,” Clay said. “Here, take this netting so nothing else gets tangled in it.
Clay handed Dolf the part of the net that was in his hand and it was out of the water in another minute.
“Help me in the boat before I pass out,” Logan said.
Dolf lifted Logan's weight up even with the side of the boat and let him down in the bottom of the boat without much effort.
Clay climbed into the boat with an assist from Dolf. By the time Clay was in the boat the porpoise moved a few feet away before coming back to where he started. He blew several noisy bursts of air from his blowhole.
“That's a boy,” Clay said. “You'll be OK now. Mr. Logan Warren is going to want to get a closeup of you and him together once he's all better,” Clay explained to the porpoise. “Our filmmaker did a very foolish but brave thing and he better not do it again.”
Logan laughed and so did Clay.
“He doesn't sound all that healthy,” Dolf said.
“No telling how long he's been struggling to get free of that net. How in the world could you see it, Logan.”
“Sun was shining just right to light him up. He was struggling to get his blowhole out of the water. He was only on the surface for a few seconds,” Logan explained. “I had a sheet of paper I tossed overboard so we could find the spot. I thought I could save him. I nearly drowned myself. I wasn't giving up.”
“He's one lucky porpoise,” Clay said. “I don't believe we did what we just did. I still don't know how you saw it and then found it.”
It swam away from the boat and came back to where he was touching the side of the boat again.
The creature blew another noisy burst of air. He had no fear of the craft or the people in it. He sounded happy to be alive.
“I think he might be OK,” Clay said, touching the lucky porpoise.
Logan leaned on his elbow to reach his hand over the side of the boat to touch in front of the sea creatures blow hole.
“You'll be OK, Tangle. You'll be OK now,” the filmmaker said.
“What did you call him?” Clay said with a big smile.
“He was tangled in the net. Tangle is his name,” Logan said. “And I do want to photograph him. He's going to star in my documentary.”
“I like that,” Clay said, finally liking something Logan did. “You could have drowned yourself, Logan. Didn't you think you might need some air if you were going to free him?”
“No, I'm not that familiar with SCUBA gear. It didn't come to mind. I'm glad it came to your mind. I might have drown. You're right. I could have drown. All's well that ends well, but I feel like shit at the moment.”
“You've got more courage than brains,” Dolf said. “You risked your life to save a fish. I thought I'd seen it all.”
“I was showing Dylan how to film the water along the starboard side. Film the water passing around us was my last request. The sun flickered on the porpoise. It suddenly broke the surface and disappeared. I could see it was struggling. I had the paper in my hand and I threw it overboard. I wasn't sure what it was but, I was sure it was in trouble.”
“What are the odds?” Clay said, reaching to touch the very still porpoise as it stayed up against the lifeboat.
“I don't want to start the engine,” Dolf said. “It's had enough trauma for one day.”
“No rush, Dolf,” Clay said. “We're a mess, Logan. I got so much water in my pants I'm sloshing every time I move. I'd have stripped down to my boxers if I'd given it a minute's thought but then again, I didn't pack any boxers. No room in my suitcase for such luxuries.”
Logan laughed.
Tangle moved a dozen feet from the lifeboat and came right back after blowing a large burst of air through his blow hole.
“He's going to be OK,” Clay said. “He's starting to recover.”
“Next time he swims any distance away, I'll start the engine,” Dolf said.
“Yes. That sounds OK. He'll either keep his distance or not,” Clay said. “Hard to say what he intends to do besides breathe fresh air.”
“How long can one hold its breath, Clay?” Logan asked.
“Twenty minutes or so. It was every bit of that while we were trying to cut it free. They stay close to the surface but they'll dive to eat and that's when they can hold their breath the longest. By the way he's acting, he was at the end of his rope, Logan. You saved his life. He was smart enough to let you do that because however long he'd been struggling, before you saw him, he wasn't going to get himself free. Like it or not, he had to trust us to help him and in this case it worked out fine.”
“You cut him free,” Logan said.
“You saw him. We would have sailed on by and he'd have been dead in an another hour. Thank heaven for your photographer's eyes.”
The porpoise swam along side the lifeboat. He had begun to chatter away. Once the lifeboat stopped beside the Horizon, Tangle swam a few dozen yards away to see the entire ship. He stopped facing them. Sitting on top of the water, he watched them leaving the lifeboat and climbing on deck.
“It is a porpoise,” Bill said to Captain Hertzog.
“I'll be damned,” Captain Hertzog said from the catwalk. “It is a porpoise. I'd have skinned Logan if this had been his idea of a joke. I'll be damned.”
Clay was first on deck and he handed the wire cutters to Sidney.
“We wouldn't have freed him without those,” Clay said. “Thank you. That was quick thinking, Sidney.”
“No thanks needed when there's a life to be saved,” Sidney Peacock said with a smile. “You bring him back for lunch.”
“He's enamored with us at the moment,” Clay said.
Logan was the last one to finally reach the deck. Everyone applauded him as he stood looking a bit like a drowned rat.
“I didn't do anything,” Logan said.
“You risked your life to try to save a fellow creature. You don't need to do anything else,” Clay said, leading the applause. “Thanks, Logan. You're a good man. You've proved that today.”
Logan went straight to Clay and threw his arms around him. The two men shared a sudden kinship. Clay returned the hug.
“Good job, Logan,” Clay whispered in Logan's ear.
Applause came from the observers for a job well done.
“Thank you, Clay. I couldn't have saved him by myself. I thought I might drown before I could save him. The air tanks were genius.”
“Turn around. I want to shoot your faces,” Dylan yelled as he stood with Logan's camera up to his eye.
“You got footage of the rescue?” Logan asked.
“I never turned the camera off. I got it all on film. I got it on film but I've never used this camera before. I don't know how good it is.”
“It'll be good,” Clay said. “You're a filmmaker and a quick thinker, Dylan. You kept the camera rolling. That's amazing.”
“Yes, it is amazing,” Logan said, going to Dylan and giving him a hug. “You didn't stop filming. You're going to be a good filmmaker.”
“I got at all,” Dylan said. “It took me a minute to get focused on the lifeboat but I caught it all once the camera was in focus.”
“Bill, you need to make him your filmmaker. I don't know that I'd have realized I needed to film what was going on,” Logan said.
“I think I'll keep you and let Dylan be your assistant,” Bill said.
“Sounds like a good plan,” Clay said. “It’s why he came along.”
“Your fan club is looking for you, Logan,” Captain Hertzog said pointing off the starboard side to where the porpoise watched.
Logan moved to the rail and the porpoise began jumping up and down when he saw him. Once again he had a lot to say. No one spoke porpoise but it was obvious this one was delighted. The best Logan could do was wave at his new friend, after he retired to the environment that suited him.
It had turned into an amazing day. Many barriers had been broken through and no one wasn't smiling about the rescue.
“All this fuss over a big fish,” one engineer said to the other.
“Guess so. Let's go back down where we belong,” the other said, turning and going into the inside passageway.
“I hate to bother you folks, but can I get my ship back in gear? I'm trying to make up a little time,” Captain Hertzog said.
“Don't worry about time, Klaus. This is worth the entire trip. I came out here to see how to save the seas. Saving one of the creatures in it is worth a small delay. What a great story we'll have to tell,” Bill said, having another reason to admire his filmmaker.
Captain Hertzog turned to go back onto the bridge.
“Don't try to keep that film to yourself, Logan,” Bill said. “I want to see it. It was hard to see what you were doing from up here. Dylan, you got it all on film?”
“Yes, sir. I shot everything happening on top of the water.”
“We'll have a viewing once Logan develops it,” Bill said.
“If there are no more heroics for now, can I go finish preparing your lunches?” Greek asked.
“Yes,” everyone said at the same time.
Dolf had climbed down to hook the lifeboat to bring it back on board and while he was down there, he brought Greek's knife back to him before he went into the inside passageway.
The deck started to clear once it gave one stiff shudder when the Horizon's engines were engaged.
The porpoise chattered as the deck cleared and Dylan filmed it.
Dylan filmed Dolf securing the lifeboat before he climbed up the outside ladders to the bridge and went inside.
Dylan filmed the porpoise before he had nothing else to film.
Dylan was the last man standing on deck. The day was sunny. The seas were calm and the Horizon was back underway. It had been a good day for the youngest filmmaker. He'd taken an important piece of film. Now, if it turned out and he had it in focus, he'd have something to write home about.
Captain Hertzog kept the throttles pushed most of the way forward. He intended to make up one full day. A schedule was a good thing to keep. The Horizon was making excellent time in calm waters.
There was no excitement left in the day and after dinner everyone was going to go to his cabin. Clay and Logan were exhausted. Bill's excitement over the porpoise rescue left him worn out. As they were saying good night, Sidney Peacock came into the galley.
Sidney Peacock had a wire replica of a porpoise in each hand. He handed one to each of Tangle's rescuers.
“There are times when actions above and beyond the call of duty demand recognition. I award the two of you my wire porpoise award. You can rest easy tonight. You both had a very good day.”
Each man accepted his award in high spirits. It was the end to an exhausting day.
Dylan sat in the galley after everyone else had gone. It had been a good day, especially for the porpoise, but he wasn't worn out. He was still jazzed by filming the porpoise rescue. If it turned out OK, it would end up being a movie inside a movie.
He hoped he had the camera in focus.
Logan had the camera and the film. It was out of Dylan's hands.
He got up from the table and started clearing the dishes and taking them into the kitchen. The Greek was still scrubbing pots and pans as Dylan washed dinner dishes. Nothing was said.
He yawned. He looked to see if Greek baked any cookies he'd snatch on the way to his cabin. Greek baked some awesome cookies.
*****
A few hours after Captain Hertzog dropped anchor at the site where this year’s research got underway, Logan announced that he had a copy of the porpoise rescue he was ready to premiere.
The film lab had a standing only audience wanting to see a film destined to become a classic before it was seen by anyone but Logan and his assistant.
The camera had been in focus and Dylan captured all the activity.
Clay, Bill, & Captain Hertzog sat in the front row of the theater. Actually, it was the only row because Logan only had four chairs, and one chair was a stool. Greek and Sidney Peacock stood inside the door of the film lab while Logan and Dylan stood on either side of the projector. Dolf sat beside Rolf on the floor in the back of the room.
As the film rolled the quiet room was filled by Logan's voice who described what he'd seen that alerted him to Tangle's plight.
“We were taking routine shots. I had filmed most of the peripheral shots of the ocean I'll need but I had Dylan filming some of the same shots. This way Dylan could see what I shot and compare it to what he shot. It was while I had him pan from the bow into the water that I saw it. There, see the glitter? That's what caught my attention. Yes, here it is with the porpoise managing to get his blow hole above the surface for a few seconds. You can see the net.”
“A porpoise tangled in a net in mid Pacific and a man on board a passing boat sees that porpoise struggling to get air and the rescue begins. What an amazing story,” Bill said. “And it was caught on film.” “Too extraordinary to imagine,” Captain Hertzog said. “Yet I've heard my share of stories about such events taking place at sea.”
“Dylan had the presence of mind to start filming me once I reacted to what I was seeing. He didn't see the porpoise because his eye was in the viewfinder but when I started trying to get the captain's attention, Dylan put the camera on me. He did what photographers instinctively do. I had nothing to do with the production. Dylan let the camera roll and he stayed on the action.”
“Dylan moved the camera off me to photograph his father coming out on the catwalk to hear what I was saying. He goes back onto the bridge and Captain Hertzog cuts the power. I went straight for the lifeboat. I had a piece of paper in my hand and I tossed it into the water to mark the spot. I wanted to get the lifeboat in the water and go back to where the paper was floating on top of the water.”
Logan got silent after setting up what everyone had seen for themselves. Seeing it on film made it even more dramatic than it seemed at the time, but let me tell you, underwater it was pretty damn dramatic. I had gotten a butcher knife from the galley. It's all I could think of, but it wouldn't cut the net. Luckily Clay was there to get the air tanks and bring the wire cutters to do the job.”
“I didn't do anything,” Dylan said. “I kept the camera rolling. You have the commotion around the lifeboat and Dolf puts it in the water. You can see I was having trouble getting the lifeboat into focus.”
Dolf cheered as soon as the picture came into focus.
There was applause.
“Someone had to do it,” Dolf said.
“You were following my orders, as I recall,” Captain Hertzog added.
“Aye, aye, Pop. There was that,” Dolf agreed.
“I thought Logan might dive into the lifeboat,” Dylan said. “I don't know where he got the butcher knife, but you can see it in his hand,” Dylan said about the picture that appeared on the screen.
“Guilty as charged,” the Greek said. “He got the butcher knife from me. If I'd known what he was going to do with it, I wouldn't have given it to him. That was my best knife.”
Everyone laughed.
“Logan is in the boat and Dolf is taking him to where the paper sat floating on top of the water. I couldn't see it and the camera didn't pick it up but Logan saw it. You can see the wake of the boat as the lifeboat goes back along the wake. We kept drifting,” Dylan explained.
“It's a ways back to where Logan first dove into the water. I put it on close up once the lifeboat started moving away. It's remarkable how clear those pictures are,” Dylan said as Logan continues going under the water and surfacing to breathe before going under again.”
“I just watched. I didn't know what else to do. Here is where I saw Clay holding out the air tank. I immediately went back for Clay and the air tanks,” Dolf said as the lifeboat comes toward the camera.
“Logan was staying under for too long. I was concerned he'd go under and not come back up,” Clay said.
“But he wasn't able to stay under long enough to do any good,” Dolf said. “This is where I saw Clay holding out the air tanks.”
“A lot of fast thinkers on board this ship,” Clay said. “Everyone added something to the rescue. Here you see Sidney handing me the wire cutters. Without those that porpoise would have been a goner.”
“That knife couldn't cut through the plastic,” Logan said. “Those cutters did the trick. Clay was calm as could be. He held the net off the porpoise's skin so he wouldn't cut him.”
“With him being completely tangled in that net, I was afraid if I nicked him he'd go nuts. I took my time cutting him free.”
“I wasn't even sure he was still alive at that point. I was cutting that net off him even if he died on me. When I started looking for some sign of life, I saw his eye on me. He didn't move a muscle and he was watching me cut him loose from that net.”
“Common sense,” Sidney Peacock said. “The newer nets are mostly plastic and wire. As soon as I heard something was tangled in the net, I grabbed the wire cutters and got them to Clay. That damn butcher knife wasn't going to cut it.”
“You saved that porpoise, Sidney,” Clay said. “It wouldn't have survived for much longer. It was going into shock while I was cutting the net away.”
“There's Dad holding up the air tank. Dolf sees and comes straight back to the ship. Here's Sidney with the pliers. I got that on film but I still was having trouble keeping the action in focus. It took me time to figure out the new camera.”
“The pictures are clear,” Captain Hertzog said. “You did fine.”
“He did,” Logan said. “I don't know if I'd have thought to keep the camera going. I used up some film earlier and it was luck that he didn't run out of film before the rescue ended.”
“Wire cutters, Young Man,” Sidney Peacock grumbled. “You don't know your tools. Come below one day. I'll teach you about tools.”
“Here Dad is getting into the lifeboat with the air tanks. I realized Logan had surfaced and the lifeboat wasn't there. Here he's dog paddling and watching Dad get in the lifeboat with the air tanks.”
“When I surfaced to get my breath, there was no lifeboat for me to hang onto. At first I was confused and disoriented. I'd been diving for five minutes or more by then and I wasn't having any success trying to cut through the plastic. That butcher knife was close to useless,” Logan explained.
“It's all I had,” the Greek said. “Good thing Sidney was around.”
“That's the truth,” Sidney Peacock said in his Australian twang.
“Logan gets into the boat to get the air tank on,” Dylan said.
“I was exhausted but I wasn't letting that porpoise die. I still didn't do any good. Clay got the net off of him and not a minute too soon. That porpoise was dying when I got to it,” Logan said. “Snip, snip, snip. The porpoise was watching every move Clay made. He didn't move. How could he understand that we were there to help him? He understood what Clay was doing. If you told me a porpoise could reason that out, I'd call you a liar if I hadn't seen it.”
“You've got to consider he was probably worn out,” Clay said. “His brain may have processed that he had nothing to lose letting us do what we were doing. He was almost done for by that time. He was desperate enough to wait to see how it would turn out. I read in a biology book how long a porpoise could hold his breath. I'd question the number they gave on the basis of how long he'd been tangled in that net and struggling to get enough air.”
“Creatures on this earth are far more intelligent than men give them credit for being. That's our ignorance showing. That porpoise knew what you were doing, Clay,” Bill said. “His last shot at survival.”
“As I moved the net off his tail and away from his skin, he shot up like a cork going to the surface,” Clay said.
“That sucker hit me when he broke the surface. Luckily I bounced away from him. He could have squashed me,” Logan said.
“Here's where my dad surfaces next to the porpoise who looked dead from where I was,” Dylan said. “He popped up and sat still.”
“He needed to recover,” Bill said. “Pretty stressful event for him.”
“For him,” Logan said. “I thought I was too late. I was sure he was dead. Speaking of stressful. I couldn't do him any good.”
“Here you can see the porpoise coming around,” Dylan said. “He moves a few feet away and then back. Here Logan's hand is hanging over the side of the boat and the porpoise swims under it. See his hand. See the porpoise. He does that twice. Isn't that amazing?”
“I was so tired I could hardly breathe,” Logan said. “Then I managed to sit up when Dolf starts back. I'm still out of it. I don't know why I thought I could save that porpoise. I just couldn't leave him to drown. He needed help and I nearly drown myself trying to help him. I'm an idiot. Thinking I could do it by myself and no one knew why I was so frantic.”
“You did your best. You marked the spot where you saw him. That saved his life, Logan,” Bill said. “We're out here to find a way to preserve marine life. What you did definitely qualifies.”
The film rolls and no one says anything about the final few minutes of footage. The lifeboat returns to the side of the Horizon. Everyone is back on board and the porpoise is happily swimming in the water beside the ship apparently none the worse for wear.
“If that piece of film doesn't make it into the final cut, I'll want to know why,” Bill said. “It's an amazing piece of film.”
“I'll cut it down to a few minutes but we'll put it on the front end of the documentary. If that doesn't get the audiences heart racing, nothing will,” Logan said. “Dylan, you de man.”
“I didn't do anything but let the camera run,” Dylan said.
“You're going to make a great cinematographer, Dylan,” Logan said. “You had the sense to keep the camera rolling. It's not something you can teach. That's instinctive. You kept the action in the middle of the frame and let the camera do the work.”
“I had a camera in my hand and all hell broke loose. I'd need to be brain dead not to film it,” Dylan reasoned.
The room erupted in applause.
Dylan blushed. He hadn't done anything.
“We all had a hand in the rescue. It was a team effort,” Captain Hertzog said. “You're all top drawer as far as this captain is concerned. You're all good men and I'm proud to sail the seas with every one of you.”
The captain stood and applauded the men in the room.
“I can't imagine a research trip starting in a more dramatic fashion. Whatever we accomplish, it'll be difficult to top that,” the captain said.
“Isn't that the truth,” Bill said.
Logan smiled as he remembered one of the rules of motion picture photography, leave your audience wanting more.