Chapter 5—Water,
Water Everywhere
"You're not serious," Squall whispered. "You can't be."
"I'm being very serious," Quistis replied, sinking back into her chair.
"What about the baby??" Rinoa asked.
"The baby is fine," Quistis said. "It's a miracle, though, with all the injuries around it. It very well could have went the other way."
"How far along was she…?" Seifer asked.
"….Not very far. Not enough for her to know that she was pregnant," Quistis said.
"Then…….if the baby dies…..what do we do…??" Zell asked innocently and everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean 'what do we do'?" Squall said.
"Well….if Selphie survives…..and if she didn't know that she was pregnant…..and the baby dies…….do we….tell her that she was pregnant and that the baby didn't make it….?" Zell said quietly. "Would it be easier on her and Irvine just to…not tell them?"
The room was absolutely silent then, each person shocked by his question. It made sense, but would it be right…?
"We should leave it alone," Seifer answered. "We'll see what happens. If it survives, then all's well and we don't have to do anything. If it doesn't, we'll figure it out from there. It's not our place to meddle in something like this."
"……Like I said, I'll go try the mainland again," Squall said phlegmatically, getting up from his chair. He walked around to the exit and pressed the button on the panel, allowing the door to slide open. "Zell."
"Yeah?"
"Go start working on the engine some more. See if you can do anything at all. Seifer, help him if you can," Squall said over his shoulder as he stopped in the middle of the doorway. "We're gettin' outta here. One way or the other."
Zell and Seifer stood up, both of them glad to have something to do. It was just the 'together' part that wasn't agreeable. They glared at each other.
"Don't be fighting and I mean it," Squall warned them. "If either of you get to be a pain in my butt while we're stuck here, there'll be one or two less going back home. Understood?"
"Yeah," came the reply from them both. Neither was in the mood to be making smart remarks at this point.
"……..Airship Ragnarok calling out to anyone within range. Over."
Silence.
"….Airship Ragnarok calling out to anyone, requesting immediate assistance from Battleship Island, over."
Long silence.
Squall had been sitting at the comm unit for 5 hours, calling out into the vast ocean, hoping someone would pick up. He was tired, irritable, and worried. He sighed and sat the receiver down on the holster.
"……any luck…?" came a voice from the elevator.
"…No, Zell……no luck," Squall replied, not even bothering to look up. "…….how's everyone doing….?"
"Rinoa just took over to watch Selphie; Quistis is exhausted," Zell said, sitting down in the co-pilot's chair a few feet away. "She's been pouring over the computer medical records of the ship, trying to find some record of a disease like this. She's been at it since we left the briefing room. I came up to see if you were hungry. I was gonna go down and get something to eat."
"No, I'm fine," Squall said. "We'll just have to eat when we get time. We don't have time for anyone to fix meals. Figured out what to do about the engine, yet….?"
"Nope……" Zell replied. "Not a dang thing I can do, man. I'm sorry."
Squall picked up the receiver and held it in his hand a moment. He stared at it.
"Somebody…… pick up, dammit!!!!" Squall threw the receiver as far as the cord would let it go and it bounced back in complete defiance, dangling near the floor. "God…!!"
"We'll reach somebody eventually, Squall," Zell said. "We have to. We don't have any other options."
They heard the lift come up and Seifer stepped off. He was breathing slightly faster than normal.
"There's a leak in the water supply," he said quickly. "We've lost all our water, except for what's in the backup tank. And even that's leaking. The pipes must have busted when we crashed. I tied the leaks shut with some rags, but I don't think it's going to hold for long. We have to fix it."
Squall's face drew a blank. He felt similar to being backhanded by one of Zell's fighting gloves.
"Zell."
"Squall?"
"How much water does the backup tank hold…?" he asked absently, staring down at the comm unit.
"…..About 1,200 gallons," Zell replied.
"But, It's barely over half full…" Seifer said to them.
"You two get down there and do something to fix it," Squall stated, picking the receiver back up. "If that water supply goes, we all die."
"We're on a water shortage," Squall said to them, standing in the middle of the group. They were inside the med lab, surrounded by various tools of the medical trade: a respirator, heart monitor, and several other life support devices too complex to name.
"How
much do we have…?" Quistis asked him.
"We
have 600 gallons of water as of right now," Squall said, seeing and hearing
several gasps. This seemed
impossible. They couldn't survive for
long on that much water. "No
baths. No showers. Put washing your hands at a minimum. Nothing that uses water needlessly. Nothing, but drinking. Absolutely nothing. That's the only way we'll survive on such a
shortage.
"Quistis,
how's Irvine doing?" Squall continued, going on to another subject. He didn't have to wait for them to reply to
his order. He knew they would follow it
to the letter.
"He's
calmed down a bit," Quistis replied. "But, whenever he sees someone outside the door, he'll start raving
again about Selphie and wanting to get out of here."
"And
the baby?" Zell asked.
"It's
fine," Quistis answered. "Doing just
fine."
"Any
luck with the mainland, yet, Squall?" Rinoa asked. "Or anyone else, for that matter?"
"I
thought I had something earlier, Seifer's up monitoring the comm unit," Squall
replied. We have got to get out of
here…there is no way we'll last on that much water. Not for long.
"Here's
your dinner, Irvine," Quistis said softly, sliding the tray through the small
opening. Irvine was in a small cell
down in the brig of the ship. It looked
much like an old-western prison with the vertical parallel bars and the opening
for food. The tray had three small
salisbury steaks on it, along with a glass of water, a napkin, and a fork. It wasn't much, but it was what he liked to
eat. He grabbed the tray greedily,
nearly toppling the glass.
"Don't
spill that water," Quistis told him sharply. "We're on a severe shortage. We've got about 1,000 gallons of water left in the tank, since the
leak. Spill it and you won't get
another glass tonight. You'll have to
wait until the morning."
"I
don't care," Irvine replied hotly, setting the tray down on a table in the small
prison room. He had indeed calmed down
a bit, but the calm he displayed was the kind of calm before a storm. Dark.
"Selphie
is doing just fine, Irvine," Quistis told him softly, sitting in her chair next
to the cell. It was far enough away
from the bars that he couldn't reach her if he were to reach out beyond
them. She paused a moment. "…..She and the little one are doing just
fine."
Irvine
didn't reply. He didn't seem to have
even heard what she had said. He had
sat down and was eating his small 'steaks' in gravy. He drank his water down quickly, ignoring her.
"Did
you hear me, Irvine…?"
"I
want out of here," he stated, taking another messy bite of the dripping thing,
leaving gravy on his chin. He didn't
seem to notice. "I want to go back to
the mainland. Now."
"You
are not listening to me," Quistis declared. "I'm trying to tell you something important, but you're not listening."
"I
don't care what you're trying to tell me!" Irvine growled, taking a gulp of his
water. "All you've told me is that we
can't take Selphie to a hospital where somebody trained can--…"
"I'm
trying to tell you that she is going to have a baby!!"
Irvine
froze.
So, what do you think? I know, it was short. I've had this written up for a while, but I
just now got time to put it up. Reviews, pretty please with sugar on top!! Oh, and anybody's welcome at my messageboard: http://pub31.ezboard.com/bfirecavern
. We're a crazy bunch, but don't be
afraid. We don't bite. Well…….one of us does, but she's being
broken from that. Drop by sometime and
see us.
