MSG – 2
These halls remind me of a submarine, if I'd had ever actually had been on a submarine. I think a sub looks like this, only smaller. And it can fly, I wonder if it can float? It's a sub in space. The thoughts rumbled through Evan's head as he walked down the corridor heading toward his room, the closet-like space he shared with his dear brother Hank Lawson.
Evan stuffed a miniature cup cake in his mouth as he walked. The food on this boat isn't bad. It's not good, but it's not whatta-burger either. I wonder what the food will be like when we get to where we're going? Which will be tomorrow, since according to my new best friend Karin Simon, Lieutenant Karin Simon, we'll be arriving early. While Evan stopped at his door, his mind was in overdrive. He keyed in access code into the locking mechanism and walked through the entrance when it slid open. Evan found Hank lying on his bunk when he entered the room.
"What're you doing here?" Evan asked collapsing onto his own bunk. "Nothing to do in the infirmary?"
"No, not right now," Hank replied staring at the ceiling.
"Do I detect a bit of boredom in your voice?"
"For once, you're right about me," Hank said glancing over at his brother. "I never thought I'd say this … but I'm really glad I didn't join the Navy. I can barely stand three weeks in a confined space. I can't imagine being out to sea for months."
"What would you say if I told you that we might be getting to our destination early?" Evan asked pushing himself against the wall.
"If that were true, I'd …. I'd make Divya give you that back rub you are always grumbling about," Hank commented.
"Well, you better call her over here, because I have it on a reliable source that we'll be landing tomorrow," Evan said blowing smugly on his finger tips. He watched Hank roll over on the bunk and sit up.
"What?"
"Apparently there is another ship traveling with us. Well, sort of. I guess they left after we did and are actually ahead of us because they have better engines or something. But then yesterday something happened and they had to land and for whatever reason they can't take off again. So tomorrow, we'll be wherever they are, and that's where we'll stay for the next nine months."
"Somewhere where we can't take off again?" Hank questioned with a perplexed expression on his face.
"Apparently," Evan replied shrugging his shoulders.
"Who told you that?"
"Lieutenant Simon."
"Lieutenant Simon?" Hank repeated. "The same Lieutenant Simon that I caught giving you a blowjob in this very room just a couple of days ago?"
"Yeah, one and the same," Evan answered with a sly grin on his face.
"You sure she wasn't just saying that to get in your pants again?" Hank asked standing up from the bunk.
"I'm not that gullible," Evan replied defensively. "Why would she lie?"
"Because she is horny and it doesn't take much to learn that you are easily conned by money, intrigue and sex," Hank replied pacing around their small space.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Evan scowled lying flat on the bunk. "I didn't get the impression that she was lying."
"It doesn't make sense," Hank said leaning against the closet. "General O'Neill told me that once the ship got to its destination, if Boris needed me, I could be back in New York in a couple of hours."
"And you believed him?" Evan yelped waving his arms around. "Hank, we've been flying very fast through space for the past nine days. What makes you think we can just go back to Earth as the snap of your fingers?"
Hank shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know," he said shoving his hands into his pockets. "I have a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. And I'm getting really really tired of being stuck on this ship."
"Guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see who's right," Evan replied lacing his fingers behind his head.
…~…
"Evan could you get that case?" Divya asked as HankMed packed up their gear from Daedulas preparing for their transfer to Atlantis.
"Evan get this, Evan do that," Evan grumbled picking up the case as Divya asked. "You know, Hank promised me that you would give me a back rub. When do you plan to pay up?"
"When hell freezes over," Divya answered grabbing the last of the gear. "I'm ready here. How about you?" she directed to Evan as he put the last case on the transport cart.
"I guess," he said pushing the cart into the corridor for the Marines to move over to their new home. "Have you seen Hank lately?"
"He's already over on Atlantis getting acquainted," Divya answered looking around her quarters.
"And he left us to do the dirty work?" Evan half asked, half commented.
"I believe Hank is suffering from cabin fever," Divya replied. "The change of scenery will do him good."
"Change of scenery?" Evan guffawed as he stepped out into the hall. "We're transferring from one ship to another."
"And your point?"
"I'd hardly call it a change of scenery," Evan complained. "We spend ten days cooped up on this bucket of bolts or whatever is holding it together just to transfer to another ship that is floating in the middle of a very huge ocean."
"Lieutenant Ryder informed me Atlantis is over a mile long and wide," Divya argued. "It's a floating city. Plenty of space to spread out and shake out the cobwebs."
"Is that coming from someone that has had to live under her parents thumb?" Evan asked his partner as they walked to the exit ramp on the port side of the ship.
"Perhaps I was due for a change of scenery myself," Divya remarked. "And it doesn't matter if it is to a ship in the middle of the ocean."
TBC
