FLENSE
FOURTH WATCH · STATION FOUR · —
ARCTIC WHALING STATION · FOURTH WATCH · 71° NORTH
FLENSE
One whale lies half on the ice beside a cut plan. You have nine minutes of light and a tide that does not care about either of you. The sea is not trying to take the whale. It is taking you.
THROW THE SECOND HARPOON
CUT WITH THE GRAIN
COIL WHEN THE CAPSTAN SINGS
CHOOSE WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH
A D walk the plan
SPACE hold to draw the harpoon, release to throw
J hold to flense along the grain
K hold to coil the capstan and relieve the line
E hold to stow what you are carrying
1 ambergris 2 jaw 3 nothing
No tally kept at this station.
THE WATCH IS HELD
Nothing moves but the light.
The swell, the tide and the line are exactly where the last frame left them. The sun does not stop either.
- WATCH
- 00:00
- FLENSED
- 0.0 M
- TIDE
- 0.10 M
THE WATCH IS OVER
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