AUTOGENOUS

Twenty Carrots

By Cooper Flora

The protagonist sits in a chair looking over spreadsheets. He sits at a dimly lit table with another man on the other end of the table. They study and write things down, preparing for something not executed yet.

The protagonist finishes a few lines of overview then stands, "alright one last overview then..." he goes on as he slowly circles the table, "Eleven-thirty eight p.m. is thirty seconds before when the iceberg strikes the right side of the hull so that's when we have already needed to be at the bridge... So I'm thinking we'll get into wardrobe here soon, and we get in our positions" he looks at his watch which says 9:42 p.m. "Jacob you sure you can handle-"

"I'm sure I am capable of waiting to see your signal, and then convince a scared man to turn a ship." Jacob barks back without hesitation, "you've been treating this like a damn heist."

"you understand what's at stake here right? Thirteen hundred lives can be saved tonight, lets not mess this up huh?

"I'm getting paid twenty carrots to turn a boat, that's why I wont mess this up..." The protagonist looks at Jacob in pity for a couple of seconds before getting up.

"Right let's get on with it then."

The protagonist is now walking along the top deck of the R.M.S. Titanic, now in an older fashioned wardrobe, he looks up at the crows nest and sees the two men watching the calm water ahead. The water is clean and flat. The moonlight shines on the surface of the quiet Atlantic. Since the water is so calm it is hard to see the waves crashing on a mountain of ice. First officer Murdock is watching the high seas from the bridge, standing by. The protagonist looks back to the bridge to see Jacob looking out over the starboard side of the ocean, standing beside a life raft. The protagonist walks further towards the front of the vessel to see the block of ice for himself before they try to save the lives of the Titanic. He checks his watch to see the time, the watch reads eleven-thirty eight right as the protagonist clips his foot on the bench in front of him, causing him to fall.