The children clung tighter to their parents, wide-eyed, as though the sea had suddenly become stranger than it had ever been. “Why weren’t we warned?” someone muttered from the back of the crowd. Another echoed it louder. Murmurs spread, frustration now mixing with fear. But no answer came.
By the next morning, the news had spread beyond their island. Reporters covered the story: a foreign submarine surfacing without clearance, drifting too close to a fishing village. Analysts on television argued about miscommunication, about exercises in the wrong waters, about treaties and apologies.