Disclaimer: The Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea characters are not mine, just borrowed for this story.
Reviews are always welcome.
Crane Vs. The Cell Phone
Lee Crane grumbled in frustration. He was sitting at his desk preparing to take a much needed lunch break. The object of his frustration was his sleek black cell phone. He proceeded to flip it open and close it several times.
"Problem?" asked Chip who had stopped to drag his captain to the cafeteria to join him for lunch. The tall blonde leaned against the office door and watched Crane continue to flip his cell phone open and closed.
"I went to check and see if I had any messages on this thing and the screen is black," replied Crane without looking up from the object in his hand.
With an evil smirk and a tone that only a best friend could get away with, Chip asked, "Is it on?"
Lee Crane was the Captain of the world famous Seaview, one of the greatest submarines in all of the seven seas. On many occasions his skill and brilliance of command had defeated the enemy, saved the crew, the country and even the world. Chip knew Lee wasn't stupid and had an excellent understanding of many things, but for some reason a simple cell phone seemed to cause the young Captain a fair amount of grief.
"Of course it's on! I checked that out first. For some reason the information is not getting to the screen. I don't get it; it was working fine the other day." He closed the phone and stuffed it into the pocket of his khaki pants. "Let's go to lunch."
Chip gestured to the open door and let Lee exit first. He just smiled and shook his head as Lee passed him. "That makes what, the eighth cell you've had trouble with since the admiral started issuing them out?" He asked innocently.
Crane didn't responded but shot Morton a mock scowl. The two friends proceeded down the hall and to the elevator.
It was just after lunch with Chip when Crane stopped by the Admiral's office. Ryan's desk was in front of the door to Nelson's office and the young personal assistant was busy typing reports on her computer. She glanced up over her computer screen with jade colored eyes and quietly told Lee, "the Admiral hasn't returned from his lunch meeting yet, Lee."
Crane locked his amber eyes with hers and replied, "I'm not here looking for the Admiral, rather the most talented and amazing assistant the Institute and Nelson has ever had." He gave Ryan a boyish smile.
"I bet that's how you get all the girls Lee Crane," jested Ryan, "what service can I provide you with today?"
Lee sat on the edge of the desk and reached into his pocket producing the cell phone. He passed it over to Ryan. "It doesn't seem to be working, and since you've been able to fix it the last few times, I figured you could use your magic touch again."
"Lee this is your third cell phone in as many months, and let's not mention last year's total. What is it you do to these things?"
"Honestly? I knocked one into a puddle when I was changing a flat tire, another one was smashed on a mission and some might have gone through the wash, others have been shorted out, lost, misplaced, taken by enemy agents, but this one had an unfortunate encounter with a flight of stairs."
Ryan shook her head and took the cell. After pushing several buttons and removing and rubbing the battery she continued to flip it open and closed. Finally she resorted to her last trick and proceeded to slam the phone on to her desk. She then flipped it open and passed it back to Lee. "All fixed," Ryan stated triumphantly.
Crane looked at the phone in amazement. Wanting to validate this miracle he continued to flip it open to test exactly how fixed the cell was.
"You just have to know how to talk to it Lee. Next time it acts up just smack it on something."
"I think I'll seek you next time cause if I did that the Admiral would yell."
"Of course I would Captain, you have a nasty habit of breaking every phone I give you. I'm just glad you don't extend that habit to Seaview," stated Nelson as we entered the room with his briefcase in hand.
Lee's back stiffened like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He turned from facing Ryan and gave the Admiral his most innocent who me look. "Ryan was just performing some much needed maintenance on it Sir."
"How was your meeting Admiral?" asked Ryan as she tactfully changed the subject. They all knew Nelson would never be overly angry with the Captain about his ability to assassinate cell phones, but a change of subject would alleviate frustrations on the subject from both parties.
"Oh, um quite interesting. If you have a minute Lee I think we have a new assignment for Seaview. Ryan you might have to reschedule my meetings for the rest of the week."
Lee stood up and started to follow Nelson into his office to work on the details of their next adventure when Ryan whispered to Crane, "a new mission, I think I'll put in the requisition for your new cell phone now."
"That's probably the safe bet," he replied.