Night. The deck is in funeral silence. S walks the deck, seeing one sailor, boyish and feminine-in-build, refilling the masthead lamp and another sailor whittling a whistle.

The footnote written by FXC here is “weirdly specific“, as noted by Jen. “Chronic ear infections left him unable to hear sounds in the frequency range of 2710 Hz. to 2760 Hz.). While Eric thinks that the numbers carry message to VMS, both Jen and him have no clues decoding. Eric also proposes that the numbers might be FXC “trying to throw people off.”

The conversation between Jen and Eric centers on their social life. Whereas Jen says that the “funeral silence” of the boat reminds her of her apartment, her age, and her discord with roommate, Eric states: “I’ve pretty much always been one.” He demonstrates a strong sense of individualism, as he holds: “[…] I think: you’re born in certain way. Later you get to decide how much you want to fight/change that. I don’t mind being alone.” However, Jen points out that if Eric is indeed so detached from social life, he would not be having conversation with her on the margin of the book.