Things Lucas Never Wanted To Know
A One-Shot
Lucas looked at the e-mail on his computer screen and blinked hard, as if he could force the words back out of his mind with the sheer strength of his eyelashes.
I really didn't want to see that.
It wasn't that he'd seen something shocking; everyone has accidently opened a dodgy e-mail at some point in their life. It was because he'd seen something intensely private. Sweet and touching maybe... But still private.
The missive had somehow showed up in his inbox ... And he had opened it without thinking.
It was clearly meant for someone else; one of the crew perhaps, but now he couldn't un-open it.
The words would stay with him forever, burned on his retinas, the startling confessions of a girl who was punch drunk in love. No-one ever writes to me that way, he thought.
Hi SnowTiger, just wanted to drop you a line to say thank-you for the weekend. It was amazing to finally meet you face to face, but I feel like we know each other so well already even though our relationship is mostly online. If you think things are moving too fast then I will respect that, but I really want to see you again. I don't normally have sex on the second date, but with you I feel comfortable and I just couldn't help myself. I wasn't planning to sleep with you but now I that I've thought things over I feel like it was meant to be. I don't regret anything. I know it can be difficult when you are at sea all the time and I wanted you to know that I will wait for you however long it takes, no pressure. Message me when you are back in port. Can't wait to feel you in my arms soon.
Love from Zoe XXX
It had left him feeling breathless and uplifted, that people still had that kind of emotional honesty with each other. Whoever the message was meant for was very lucky, Zoe sounded nice. But how was he going to find out who it was without seeming like a pervert?
Ben would know.
Lucas had a threefold advantage in asking Ben to help him track down the recipient. Firstly, it may have been intended for Ben himself, and he would make a fair bet that it was. Secondly, he knew all the gossip that flew around the boat and would've caught wind of who was dating who. Thirdly, he would give Lucas the benefit of the doubt when it came to privacy issues.
He clicked print on the e-mail and, ripping the slip of paper out of the printer, made his way to the hatch in search of the truth.
Ben wasn't in his quarters.
But something else that Lucas wanted... Was.
The latest issue of 'Perfect Ten'. The issue with the article on the world's most beautiful un-enhanced women.
Classy.
This was his opportunity to sneak a look before any of the other guys got their hands on it.
He thought it odd that Ben would leave such a magazine, tasteful as it was, lying around on his bunk and with the door open.
Maybe he was on call and had to leave the room in a hurry.
Lucas crossed the room and swiftly scooped the publication up into his hand.
It was heavier than he expected.
Something dropped out onto the floor.
Something paper.
Lucas would kick himself for doing so later on, but he just couldn't help it.
It was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K Dick. Dog-eared and well read, with a coffee stain on the back.
Confused, he opened the front cover.
Ben, every year I give a copy of this to my star pupil. Congratulations on your graduation. All the best,
Proffessor Weingarten
Class of '11
Lucas almost dropped the paperback, his heart skipping a beat when he realised the awful truth.
It was almost too scandalous and life-changing.
Ben... was a closet geek.
He replaced the books as he had found them, and hastily retreated from the room.
What next? Lucas thought, as he scoured the boat for his friend, or someone who could give him some answers.
He was rather disturbed, having seen two things he didn't really want to know about that morning, and passing crew members gave him funny looks as he poked his head around corner after corner.
Who can help me find out who the e-mail was meant for?
I know, he answered himself, Miguel is the second worst womaniser on the boat and almost as good a friend as Ben.
Lucas headed for Miguel's quarters. He would've just come off a night shift, but wouldn't mind a visit from the youngster, especially if it involved gossip.
He fully expected the sound of heavy metal to emanate from the room Miguel shared with another of the CPOs. But to his surprise, when the door opened, all he could hear was a soft but anguished female voice speaking Spanish. It was obviously a recording, and Lucas was concerned to see a tear escape from the corner of his friend's reddened eyes.
He wasn't sure what to say.
"Is everything OK?" He finally asked, worried there might've been some kind of family tragedy.
"Yeah, fine." Said Miguel, wiping his eye and sounding like he didn't know what Lucas was talking about.
"I was... Uh... I was looking for Ben. But you may be able to help."
"Come in for a minute." Miguel opened the door wider and pulled him in.
Lucas couldn't believe his eyes when he cast them around the room. His gaze settled on the screen of Miguel's personal disc player. Leonardo diCaprio had just slipped into the water, after letting go of Kate Winslet's hand.
He tried desperately not to notice that he'd caught his friend openly crying at Titanic.
Miguel didn't seem to think there was anything amiss.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Do you know who uses the handle 'SnowTiger'?"
"No, is that a trick question?"
"No," said Lucas, "somehow an e-mail got redirected to my inbox when the family-grams came in. I don't think the addressee would want to miss this one, so I'm trying to find out who it belongs to."
"Lemme see." Said Miguel, holding out his hand.
"Uh-uh, no-way. No-one sees this except the person it was meant for... And me." Lucas felt a little guilty as he snatched the paper away. "I'm the administrator."
"Then how am I supposed to help?"
"We have to find out who's dating a girl called Zoe."
"Ok, you're on. Where do we start?"
Lucas accompanied Miguel to the mess.
He was reeling a little from the information he'd found out about his friends. It was stuff you would never have known if you weren't looking for it, yet somehow he had. Something hadn't felt right when he got up that morning; like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe his friends weren't who he thought they were.
Maybe he wasn't who he thought he was. He had already crossed the line by reading someone else's mail. This could be the start of a slippery slope.
"I didn't know you liked old movies," he said to Miguel as they crossed the threshold of the mess.
"I didn't used to, but then Commander Ford got me started on them when I mentioned I had trouble sleeping."
"Him too, huh?" asked Lucas. "I always knew he had a softer side."
"That's nothing, Tim-" Miguel started, but Lucas couldn't bear to hear any more so he clapped his hands over his ears.
He watched Miguel's mouth move silently, until he was sure the danger had passed.
He uncovered his ears just in time to hear him say, "-Knitting."
"Oh!" said Lucas.
"What?" asked Miguel innocently. "Russel Crowe does it."
"Yeah, I bet it takes balls to knit."
They decided to proceed with the mission to find Zoe's boyfriend.
They asked Fillie, Phillips, Carlton, Torrance, Sheppard, Shan, Obatu, Mars and Olden, every other man in the lunch line they knew wasn't married, and most of the science team.
They came up with nothing.
"I'm going to bed," Miguel announced and left Lucas alone, putting his hands in his pockets.
Lucas wandered the corridors looking for likely candidates.
He stopped when he heard two familiar voices arguing in engineering control.
They called it 'discussing', but Lucas had parents; he knew it was really arguing.
He went in.
Katie was right in the middle of telling Ben exactly what she thought of his plans for the rest of the day. As Lucas listened, amused, the story unfolded. His plans involved too much trying to be teacher's pet and not enough helping her mend seaQuest's outer hull after a mild collision.
"You can't countermand Ford's orders, Katie, he won't be happy if he knows you tried to coerce me into doing your dirty-work, instead of real work."
"Would it help if I said 'pretty please and you're a better pilot than Bacher'?"
Lucas watched Ben twist his mouth in concentration. Katie knew which of his ego-buttons to press to try to get him to do something for her.
"Ah-hem," said Lucas even though he was reluctant to interrupt, "does either of you know who SnowTiger is?"
"That would be me. Thanks," said Katie, grabbing the print-out and looking at it casually, before going straight back to her discussion with her ex-husband... just as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Lucas stayed frozen, open mouthed, in exactly the position he held when she had taken the paper.
They ignored him.
He stayed like that until the couple stopped talking and Ben physically raised his lax jaw for him, lowered his arm, and calmly steered him toward the exit. He pushed Lucas out with a wink that was supposed to signify 'Don't tell any-one'. Then he went back to explaining why he couldn't disregard the chain of command for Katie.
Lucas wandered back down to D-deck, a little traumatised, and vowing that he was going to stay in his room for the rest of the foreseeable future. He'd had enough revelations for one day.
He sat on his bunk hugging his knees and dreading to think what might happen if he bumped into the captain.
Meanwhile, the Captain was in his quarters wondering what Lucas was doing. He had a rare day off and he was enjoying some downtime with his favourite toy.
Maybe I should share this with the kid, he thought, instead of hogging all the fun. It's only fair to give him some quality time.
He unplugged the Nintendo64 from his monitor and headed for the hatch, grabbing Super Mario Cart on the way out.