Incident at the International
Dateline
The
Dateline authorities spotted Carlos Diego's boat as it appeared on the horizon,
and set a course to meet him as he crossed over into Monday.
"What
was the nature of your business in Sunday?" asked the Captain after they
had boarded.
"A
pleasure cruise," replied Carlos. He looked out at the sunset,
disinterested, as the Captain questioned him.
The
Captain of the Dateline vessel did not look up from his clipboard. "Our
records show you were given a Day when you crossed into Sunday, and we'll need
to have that returned now."
"Of
course," said Carlos. "Just
let me step below and get-"
"That
won't be necessary," said the Captain, and he quickly motioned to three of
his men. Carlos watched as the men descended into the hold themselves. As he
moved to follow, the Captain motioned for him to stay where he was. "Do
you have any sort of unusual cargo to declare, Mr. Diego. Anything we should
know about down there? "
"You
have no right to treat me like a criminal," said Carlos.
"As
you say," said the Captain, "But there have been several incidents on
the continent with several Hours being smuggled through Time Zones, and even
some cases where whole Days have been illegally brought over the Dateline. We
will need to thoroughly check your ship."
Just
as Carlos was about to open his mouth to protest, one of the Dateline officials
called from below. "We've got something!"
The
Captain raised his eyebrows. "What is it?" he yelled back, still
watching Carlos.
"We’ve
got three - no, FIVE - Days down here!" called out the official excitedly.
The Captain remained motionless, keeping his eyes on Carlos. Carlos folded his
arms calmly, returning his gaze.
"Looks
like we've caught our smuggler," said the Captain. "Would you
gentlemen step back on deck and place Mr. Diego in cuffs, please? We're
impounding this vessel and its cargo."
"What
did you think you were going to do?" asked one of the officials as he
pushed Carlos ahead of him onto the Dateline ship. "Set up a whole private
Week somewhere for yourself?"
Carlos
remained silent. Shaking their heads, the Dateline officials led him below.
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