Curiously, after the combat operation Tyson's stammer has disappeared. News of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima reaches the island. Lieutenant Woodrow Wilson Shoemaker, a lean, pale "thinking man with a sense of history" and formerly an editorial writer, is in charge of the Historical Section of the Public Relations branch. The reactions of others in Public Relations dismay him when it appears that he is the only person on Tulura concerned about its implications. Commander Nash worries only that the Air Force has achieved a PR coup that the Navy will not be able to match. Lieutenant (jg) Pendleton sees it as a quick opportunity to return to Radio City Music Hall to produce a new soap opera about a "hotpants" Navy nurse suspiciously similar to Ensign Alice Thomas. Gordon Ripwell is miffed that President Truman didn't inform him ahead of time. Shoemaker decides he will not go back to his civilian job, but instead work to prevent future wars. Ensign Siegel bets him a month's liquor rations that in a cross section of views on Tulura, Shoemaker's would be the only apocalyptic concerns. In an all-night drinking and interviewing binge, Siegel wins the bet. Instead of writing out his resignation as an editorial writer, however, a chastened Shoemaker decides to sleep all day, unaware that Siegel has been affected, helping him to make a crucial decision about his own post-war life. The officers of ComFleets HQ celebrate the end of the war and the impending return of most to civilian life with a wild party in the new officers' club. Siegel invites Melora and Mr. Alba to attend, and Mr. Alba finds the behavior of the American officers anthropologically fascinating. Lieutenant Griffin has been unexpectedly ordered to Sydney — "after" the end of the war has restored the normal female-to-male ratio — but lifts his depression by tossing a taunting Lieutenant (jg) Pendleton into the swimming pool. Ensign Tyson wanders the club with his tennis racket swatting higher-ranked officers on the buttocks while yelling, "Mind your rudder!" in imitation of Commander Nash. Yeoman Garrett enters the club "like a Viking come to raid" and carries off Ensign Thomas. Ensign Siegel, in a "spontaneous" gesture orchestrated to resemble a media awards ceremony, informs the exec that he has been awarded the Legion of Merit. Admiral Boatwright, a close friend of Mr. Alba's, announces Melora's engagement to Siegel.