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him strangely.
    “Pong?” he asked. “DOS?”
    “Never mind,” Pratt said. “It was way before your time. Before my time too,” he added as the test screen finally showed on the display. He waited for the self-test to complete before he tried the system boot. An error code appeared and the screen went dark again. He had been working on this since they left the Hawaiian Islands months ago and this was the only progress made.
    “Damn,” Pratt muttered. “This shit probably does have cathode ray tubes.”
    “Hey! Hey! I got something!” Petty Officer 3rd Class William Teller announced excitedly from his station. He had been trying to understand how the communications equipment worked when through experimental flipping switches up and down and turning dials, he had come across some kind of broadcast. Turning the volume up so everyone in the CIC could hear.
    “... Attention ...vessels, ... Port ...inthrop ..base. ... by ... restricted ...without ... inspected first. ... base is ... security lockdown. ... check ... force. ... not ... exercise. Deadly force ... authorized ... vessel ... fired ... to heave to. ... all vessels. This... Winthr... Naval base. ... not attempt ... pass ... ... markers .... inspected ... is conducting ... lockdown.”
    The transmission was weak, fading in and out with a lot of static that garbled the transmission.
    “Well, that’s something,” Pratt said. “See if you can clean that up and narrow down where it’s coming from.” Yeah, and maybe they could get the radio directional equipment to work , he thought.
    “On it, PO,” Teller said, turning down the volume and studying the equipment. Thumping and heavy breathing from the passageway announced the arrival of Chief Petty Officer (Ret) George Brown. Brown used a cane with four small feet on its base that made a distinctive sound when he moved through the Missouri and suffered from respiratory issues. Some of the sailors referred to him as Darth, a term lost on the younger members of the crew.
    “What have you youngsters come up with?” he asked as he stepped inside the CIC.
    “Afternoon, Dar...Chief,” Pratt said, catching himself. “Teller seems to have found a radio signal.”
    Brown looked over at the other petty officer then moved towards him.
    “What did you find shipmate?” Brown asked as he stopped next to the radio operator station and wheezed a little from the exercise.
    “Chief, I think I found something, sounds military or maybe from some emergency agency,” Teller said as he tuned in the signal again and handed Brown a headset. Brown held it to his ear and listened, nodded, handed the headset back to Teller then leaned over and hit a series of switches. The transmission was static free and not garbled as it came through the speakers.
    “ Attention all vessels, this is Port Winthrop Naval base. Do not attempt to pass by the restricted markers without being inspected first. The base is conducting a security lockdown. 100 percent identification check is in force. This is not an exercise. Deadly force has been authorized and any vessel will be fired upon without warning that fails to heave to. Attention all vessels. This is the Port Winthrop Naval base. Do not attempt to pass by the restricted markers without being inspected first. The base is conducting a security lockdown. This is not an exercise.”
    Teller quickly looked at the retired CPO with wide eyes and an open mouth then back at the speaker then back up to the senior NCO.
    “You’re going to catch flies like that or hurt your neck,” Brown said.
    “What did you do?” Teller stammered out.
    “Adjusted the gain, turned off all the other shit that you had running in the background, and allowed the signal strength directional finder to locate the source,” Brown explained.
    Teller slowly shook his head. He had spent hours just experimenting with how to turn the system on and scan frequencies and then days discovering how it worked. Brown had solved a