Thanks for your nice reviews!!! Again I have to thank Refur for beta
reading. My English is really bad and anyone who beta-reads my stories has
a lot to do. Thank you! Have fun with the next chapter!
Ben and Lucas crept through the corridors. According to the duty lists, Captain Hudson was currently on the bridge and should be there for a while. After they arrived at the cargo bay, they opened a panel to get into the cable ducts: from there, they would be able to get to the main ventilation shaft and this went directly above the guest quarters of the stand-in captain. The supply officer put a pen-light between his teeth and went first into the little opening; in his right hand he held a map, which showed the course of the shaft. The computer genius came behind him with the tool bag – Ben had given him his PAL beforehand. Tim's task on the bridge was to warn them if Hudson decided to leave.
"This isn't the guest quarters!" said Lucas with a quick look at the room below them. They had been crawling through the ventilation shaft for some time by the time they stopped there.
"Must be. We followed the map." Frowning, the supply officer studied the map until an impatient teenager grabbed it.
"We took four wrong turns. We haven't followed the map!" he hissed at his friend. His knees hurt from the hard metal plates; all he wanted was to walk upright.
"We can't have. I ..."
Below them they heard a door opening. The two of them were quiet and waited to see what was going to happen.
"Damn his arrogance." A wildly swearing Kristin came in.
She took off her white coat. Without looking she threw it over the next stool. "That bastard," she snarled.
Ben signalled to Lucas to creep away silently. Just at the moment he turned there was a creaking sound. Not two seconds later there was a large hole in the shaft and Ben was lying like an insect on his back in the doctor's quarters. Frightened, she stared at the intruder. Lucas couldn't help it: he began to laugh. It was too funny seeing how his friend was lying there on the ground and Dr Westphalen was gearing up to yell at him.
Kristin looked up to where the big hole was and a certain teenager was rolling around with laughter. "Could you please come down here?"
He wipped the tears from his eyes and jumped down. Ben got up out of the dirt. "Uhm, my back. I landed right on my spine." He held his spine and the pain was reflected in his face.
"What on earth were you doing up there?" the doctor asked after the two had calmed down again and she was sure Ben was all right.
"We wanted to teach the stand-in a lesson," Lucas told her.
The lieutenant gave him a hard shove. "Perfect! Why not tell her everything we planned while you're at it?"
"Should I?" the teenager turned to his friend.
"No!"
"Perhaps she can help us." Ben was still shaking his head. Lucas argued harder. "Otherwise her fish will swim away!"
"Stop it!" Kristin interrupted. She wasn't interested in getting involved in this situation.
"Please, doc, this guy is getting on your nerves just as much as on everyone else's. All we want is to get him off the boat. Ford is good enough, he can command the ship for a few months. We don't need a blithering idiot stand-in who thinks he can order us around however he wants." The teenager watched her, an imploring look in his blue eyes. He was right. She would like to go on with her research. Her timetable was confused enough what with Bridger's special mission, and she could do without any more problems.
Kristin crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What are you intending to do?"
"We're going to mess up his shower." Again, it was Lucas who told her everything.
Rolling his eyes the supply officer capitulated. "We want to give him ice water whenever he tunrs on the faucet."
"We also planned to pump in some laughing gas as soon as he was trying to get some sleep," said Lucas.
"I had the idea to send Darwin to annoy Hudson but Lucas was against it."
"Of course!" Lucas retorted furiously. "He'd be able to send Darwin off the boat. Darwin has to stay on seaQuest – what will I do all day if he isn't here? A little while ago he turned up outside my cabin, and he said I should stop playing my computer games because they take up too much of the system's resources. As if me playing a little computer game makes any difference. This man has no idea of what resources the computer system has, and he knows absolutely nothing about seaQuest. Twenty people could all be playing a massive game at the same time and the system wouldn't be affected..." Ben put his hand over the boy's mouth.
"OK, we get it, thanks!"
"Listen you two: I'll forget the way you got into my quarters and I'll keep it a secret until the captain comes back, but you have to fix the hole above my head. And I'll help you with your revenge as best as I can."
"How you were thinking of helping us?" The supply officer still didn't let the teenager go. Now he had regained control of the situtation.
"I could get your laughing gas."
The blond computer genius bit Ben's hand. Swearing, he let him go. "Could you produce some kind of smoke? If the guy thinks it's burning and sets off the fire alarm he'll look like an idiot when it turns out it isn't. For this guy, nothing's worse than being shown up."
At that moment, as the scientist started to answer, there was a knock at the door. It was an angry knock. Eyes wide open with shock the three of them looked at it. Through the little window they saw a familiar half bald head. "Shit! O'Neill's gonna get it if we get out of here alive," cursed Ben. Although their friend was supposed to inform them if the captain left the bridge, they had received no warning.
"Hide!" Kristin pushed them towards a large plant. They hid behind it as she prepared to open the door.
But before she did, she took a last deep breath and put on her friendliest smile. "What can I do for you?"
"You kept me waiting a long time before you opened up, doctor!" He tried to step into the quarters, but the red-haired doctor was standing in his way.
"That's my business, not yours."
"Have you got some visitors?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I thought I heard voices."
"You must have been working too hard, Captain. Maybe changing the course would help. While I was investigating insignificant fish, as you called them, you would be able to take some time out. I'm sure after that the voices in your head would disappear."
"A little more respect, please! You are standing in front of a superior officer."
"If this is the science section, then I am the superior!" The two hidden people held their breath. This rebellion could have a bad ending.
"Not on this ship, my dear," Hudson grinned winningly. His teeth flashed between his lips. But then he discovered something that made him forget his reason for being there. "What happened to your quarters? Are you building an extension?"
"Uhm..." The plate which had fallen out of the shaft with Ben was still where they had left it. They'd forgotten to move it out of way. And now the captain saw the hole in the ceiling. "That happened a few days ago. Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock promised me she would repair it a while ago, but unfortunately there hasn't been any time for it. Apparently, the whole crew must be ready for the captain at all times. Such a little thing like a tiny hole in the shaft in the quarters of the science officer and chief doctor isn't worth sending anyone."
Lucas was impressed. This woman was better than him at getting out of delicate situations. Ben seems to relax as well. His grip on Lucas' arm loosened. The teenager thought he might have drawn blood.
The man sized the doctor up sternly. "I'll send someone." He turned around and disappeared without saying why he had come. Kristin closed the door and leaned against it, relieved.
"You were great!" the computer genius praised her.
"I was scared he was going to yell at me any moment that he knew perfectly well I wasn't telling the truth."
"Look at it like this, at least you won't have to live with this hole till Bridger comes back. Some rats could easily get into your bed at night," said Ben.
"Rats?" Her voice took on a hysterical note.
"There are no rats on seaQuest," the blond teenager told his friend.
"You have no idea. Last time we had a problem with the turbines, it was because a dead rat had got into them."
"Ben, if you really want to scare someone you'll have to invent some other stories. If we really did have rats on board, I'd be the first to know."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am!"
The doctor stood up and opened the door. "Out, both of you!"
The two friends were looking at her questioningly. What was happening now? Were they supposed to leave? "I thought you were with us and our plan?" Ben said, confused.
"First this hole must be repaired. After that we can talk further." She pushed them into the corridor.
"Can you do the stuff with the smoke? I'll study the plans of the shafts so we know the right place to set it up," Lucas said.
"Go to bed! It's late. Please. I don't want you getting into any trouble with this man." She closed the door. Disappointed, they stood in the passageway.
"What're we going to do now?" asked Ben. "Are you going to bed, like mummy told you to?"
Lucas grabbed Ben by the collar of his uniform and dragged him into the MagLev. "No way. I'm just getting started. First we get hold of O'Neill for not warning us, then we get back to the cable duct. This time I'll read the map and you can be the sherpa."
"Are you sure you'll able to follow such a complicated map?" Ben asked, eyebrows raised.
"Must I remind you that I'm smarter than you?"
"That has nothing to do with reading maps."
"Sure it has. Besides, I think I know how to sort out the smoke."
"Are you gonna mess about with some chemicals in the lab?"
"Yup! We had a project at college where we produced smoke as a by-product, so it should be no problem to cook some up. All I have to do is to remember the right composition."
They got out of MagLev and went straight to the laboratory. The supply officer had a bad feeling. "This guy hasn't done anything to you but you're harder on him than anyone else on this ship."
Lucas stood still in front of the laboratory door. He turned slowly to his friend. "He hasn't spared me. He didn't just turn up at my cabin to forbid me from playing with the computer. He told me to pack, cos on his ship there's nothing for kids to do. As soon as we pass a UEO colony I have to leave the boat. If Bridger accepts children on his boat then that's his own business, but now I have no reason to stay here."
"This is a joke."
The teenager shook his head sadly. "No, apparently I'm getting in everyone's way."
"Have you told Bridger?"
"No, I couldn't reach him. Wherever he is, he's out of range. Like he's in an isolation chamber. His ship is nowhere to be found. I'm getting thrown out, and I'm completely alone. This evening I have to leave seaQuest. If I don't go voluntarily he will escort me. A remand unit would be the best place for me."
"You can't go!"
"He's not interested in negotiating. I'm in the way and I have to disappear."
Ben put his arm around his young friend. "That's not going to happen. We'll speak to Ford, perhaps he'll able to do something, or we'll set Kristin on the bastard."
Determination appeared on the teenager's face. "I won't let him throw me off the boat. The only one who has to go is that jerk himself. And even if I have to crawl through cable shafts, nobody will get me off this boat. Now, we're going to do some experiments and then we'll wake up Ford."
"Isn't he on the bridge?" The supply officer followed his young friend into the laboratory. Right away the teenager started collecting all manner of phials and chemicals with some really poisonous names on them.
Lucas glanced at his watch. "His shift was over half an hour ago. At the moment he's sitting in the mess hall eating dinner. After that he'll going to the fitness center, with our stand-in captain if I'm not mistaken. He will exhaust him so badly that all he'll want to do is get some rest. So you see, he'll be in bed reading a book for as long as he can." He mixed some powder together and shook it, then put some drops of another chemical in the test-tube. The mixture began to bubble a little.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing here?" Lieutenant Krieg looked at the bubbles suspiciously. The foam was growing bigger and bigger, and now it was beginning to drip over the lip of the test-tube.
"Sure I'm not. I thought I'd weighed the powder, but look at this. Now I've got foam." One flake of foam fell onto his thumb. He held it under Ben's nose and then he spread it on his cheek. "We should remember this. It's perfect for practical jokes at the showers. Instead of water we can use foam next time." The teenager stopped talking. Ben was thinking the same thing as him.
"Could we use this somehow..." the supply officer trailed off.
"Sure. That should be no problem." Each of them took a bag and put the necessary chemicals inside. They would be able to prepare everything they needed in the supply officer's quarters.
As they got ready to leave the laboratory and Ben opened the door, they saw standing in front of them a certain officer who was as surprised to see them as they were to see him.
To be continued...
Sorry, the next chapter will be up by the end of July. is hidding somewhere
Ben and Lucas crept through the corridors. According to the duty lists, Captain Hudson was currently on the bridge and should be there for a while. After they arrived at the cargo bay, they opened a panel to get into the cable ducts: from there, they would be able to get to the main ventilation shaft and this went directly above the guest quarters of the stand-in captain. The supply officer put a pen-light between his teeth and went first into the little opening; in his right hand he held a map, which showed the course of the shaft. The computer genius came behind him with the tool bag – Ben had given him his PAL beforehand. Tim's task on the bridge was to warn them if Hudson decided to leave.
"This isn't the guest quarters!" said Lucas with a quick look at the room below them. They had been crawling through the ventilation shaft for some time by the time they stopped there.
"Must be. We followed the map." Frowning, the supply officer studied the map until an impatient teenager grabbed it.
"We took four wrong turns. We haven't followed the map!" he hissed at his friend. His knees hurt from the hard metal plates; all he wanted was to walk upright.
"We can't have. I ..."
Below them they heard a door opening. The two of them were quiet and waited to see what was going to happen.
"Damn his arrogance." A wildly swearing Kristin came in.
She took off her white coat. Without looking she threw it over the next stool. "That bastard," she snarled.
Ben signalled to Lucas to creep away silently. Just at the moment he turned there was a creaking sound. Not two seconds later there was a large hole in the shaft and Ben was lying like an insect on his back in the doctor's quarters. Frightened, she stared at the intruder. Lucas couldn't help it: he began to laugh. It was too funny seeing how his friend was lying there on the ground and Dr Westphalen was gearing up to yell at him.
Kristin looked up to where the big hole was and a certain teenager was rolling around with laughter. "Could you please come down here?"
He wipped the tears from his eyes and jumped down. Ben got up out of the dirt. "Uhm, my back. I landed right on my spine." He held his spine and the pain was reflected in his face.
"What on earth were you doing up there?" the doctor asked after the two had calmed down again and she was sure Ben was all right.
"We wanted to teach the stand-in a lesson," Lucas told her.
The lieutenant gave him a hard shove. "Perfect! Why not tell her everything we planned while you're at it?"
"Should I?" the teenager turned to his friend.
"No!"
"Perhaps she can help us." Ben was still shaking his head. Lucas argued harder. "Otherwise her fish will swim away!"
"Stop it!" Kristin interrupted. She wasn't interested in getting involved in this situation.
"Please, doc, this guy is getting on your nerves just as much as on everyone else's. All we want is to get him off the boat. Ford is good enough, he can command the ship for a few months. We don't need a blithering idiot stand-in who thinks he can order us around however he wants." The teenager watched her, an imploring look in his blue eyes. He was right. She would like to go on with her research. Her timetable was confused enough what with Bridger's special mission, and she could do without any more problems.
Kristin crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What are you intending to do?"
"We're going to mess up his shower." Again, it was Lucas who told her everything.
Rolling his eyes the supply officer capitulated. "We want to give him ice water whenever he tunrs on the faucet."
"We also planned to pump in some laughing gas as soon as he was trying to get some sleep," said Lucas.
"I had the idea to send Darwin to annoy Hudson but Lucas was against it."
"Of course!" Lucas retorted furiously. "He'd be able to send Darwin off the boat. Darwin has to stay on seaQuest – what will I do all day if he isn't here? A little while ago he turned up outside my cabin, and he said I should stop playing my computer games because they take up too much of the system's resources. As if me playing a little computer game makes any difference. This man has no idea of what resources the computer system has, and he knows absolutely nothing about seaQuest. Twenty people could all be playing a massive game at the same time and the system wouldn't be affected..." Ben put his hand over the boy's mouth.
"OK, we get it, thanks!"
"Listen you two: I'll forget the way you got into my quarters and I'll keep it a secret until the captain comes back, but you have to fix the hole above my head. And I'll help you with your revenge as best as I can."
"How you were thinking of helping us?" The supply officer still didn't let the teenager go. Now he had regained control of the situtation.
"I could get your laughing gas."
The blond computer genius bit Ben's hand. Swearing, he let him go. "Could you produce some kind of smoke? If the guy thinks it's burning and sets off the fire alarm he'll look like an idiot when it turns out it isn't. For this guy, nothing's worse than being shown up."
At that moment, as the scientist started to answer, there was a knock at the door. It was an angry knock. Eyes wide open with shock the three of them looked at it. Through the little window they saw a familiar half bald head. "Shit! O'Neill's gonna get it if we get out of here alive," cursed Ben. Although their friend was supposed to inform them if the captain left the bridge, they had received no warning.
"Hide!" Kristin pushed them towards a large plant. They hid behind it as she prepared to open the door.
But before she did, she took a last deep breath and put on her friendliest smile. "What can I do for you?"
"You kept me waiting a long time before you opened up, doctor!" He tried to step into the quarters, but the red-haired doctor was standing in his way.
"That's my business, not yours."
"Have you got some visitors?"
"What makes you think that?"
"I thought I heard voices."
"You must have been working too hard, Captain. Maybe changing the course would help. While I was investigating insignificant fish, as you called them, you would be able to take some time out. I'm sure after that the voices in your head would disappear."
"A little more respect, please! You are standing in front of a superior officer."
"If this is the science section, then I am the superior!" The two hidden people held their breath. This rebellion could have a bad ending.
"Not on this ship, my dear," Hudson grinned winningly. His teeth flashed between his lips. But then he discovered something that made him forget his reason for being there. "What happened to your quarters? Are you building an extension?"
"Uhm..." The plate which had fallen out of the shaft with Ben was still where they had left it. They'd forgotten to move it out of way. And now the captain saw the hole in the ceiling. "That happened a few days ago. Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock promised me she would repair it a while ago, but unfortunately there hasn't been any time for it. Apparently, the whole crew must be ready for the captain at all times. Such a little thing like a tiny hole in the shaft in the quarters of the science officer and chief doctor isn't worth sending anyone."
Lucas was impressed. This woman was better than him at getting out of delicate situations. Ben seems to relax as well. His grip on Lucas' arm loosened. The teenager thought he might have drawn blood.
The man sized the doctor up sternly. "I'll send someone." He turned around and disappeared without saying why he had come. Kristin closed the door and leaned against it, relieved.
"You were great!" the computer genius praised her.
"I was scared he was going to yell at me any moment that he knew perfectly well I wasn't telling the truth."
"Look at it like this, at least you won't have to live with this hole till Bridger comes back. Some rats could easily get into your bed at night," said Ben.
"Rats?" Her voice took on a hysterical note.
"There are no rats on seaQuest," the blond teenager told his friend.
"You have no idea. Last time we had a problem with the turbines, it was because a dead rat had got into them."
"Ben, if you really want to scare someone you'll have to invent some other stories. If we really did have rats on board, I'd be the first to know."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am!"
The doctor stood up and opened the door. "Out, both of you!"
The two friends were looking at her questioningly. What was happening now? Were they supposed to leave? "I thought you were with us and our plan?" Ben said, confused.
"First this hole must be repaired. After that we can talk further." She pushed them into the corridor.
"Can you do the stuff with the smoke? I'll study the plans of the shafts so we know the right place to set it up," Lucas said.
"Go to bed! It's late. Please. I don't want you getting into any trouble with this man." She closed the door. Disappointed, they stood in the passageway.
"What're we going to do now?" asked Ben. "Are you going to bed, like mummy told you to?"
Lucas grabbed Ben by the collar of his uniform and dragged him into the MagLev. "No way. I'm just getting started. First we get hold of O'Neill for not warning us, then we get back to the cable duct. This time I'll read the map and you can be the sherpa."
"Are you sure you'll able to follow such a complicated map?" Ben asked, eyebrows raised.
"Must I remind you that I'm smarter than you?"
"That has nothing to do with reading maps."
"Sure it has. Besides, I think I know how to sort out the smoke."
"Are you gonna mess about with some chemicals in the lab?"
"Yup! We had a project at college where we produced smoke as a by-product, so it should be no problem to cook some up. All I have to do is to remember the right composition."
They got out of MagLev and went straight to the laboratory. The supply officer had a bad feeling. "This guy hasn't done anything to you but you're harder on him than anyone else on this ship."
Lucas stood still in front of the laboratory door. He turned slowly to his friend. "He hasn't spared me. He didn't just turn up at my cabin to forbid me from playing with the computer. He told me to pack, cos on his ship there's nothing for kids to do. As soon as we pass a UEO colony I have to leave the boat. If Bridger accepts children on his boat then that's his own business, but now I have no reason to stay here."
"This is a joke."
The teenager shook his head sadly. "No, apparently I'm getting in everyone's way."
"Have you told Bridger?"
"No, I couldn't reach him. Wherever he is, he's out of range. Like he's in an isolation chamber. His ship is nowhere to be found. I'm getting thrown out, and I'm completely alone. This evening I have to leave seaQuest. If I don't go voluntarily he will escort me. A remand unit would be the best place for me."
"You can't go!"
"He's not interested in negotiating. I'm in the way and I have to disappear."
Ben put his arm around his young friend. "That's not going to happen. We'll speak to Ford, perhaps he'll able to do something, or we'll set Kristin on the bastard."
Determination appeared on the teenager's face. "I won't let him throw me off the boat. The only one who has to go is that jerk himself. And even if I have to crawl through cable shafts, nobody will get me off this boat. Now, we're going to do some experiments and then we'll wake up Ford."
"Isn't he on the bridge?" The supply officer followed his young friend into the laboratory. Right away the teenager started collecting all manner of phials and chemicals with some really poisonous names on them.
Lucas glanced at his watch. "His shift was over half an hour ago. At the moment he's sitting in the mess hall eating dinner. After that he'll going to the fitness center, with our stand-in captain if I'm not mistaken. He will exhaust him so badly that all he'll want to do is get some rest. So you see, he'll be in bed reading a book for as long as he can." He mixed some powder together and shook it, then put some drops of another chemical in the test-tube. The mixture began to bubble a little.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing here?" Lieutenant Krieg looked at the bubbles suspiciously. The foam was growing bigger and bigger, and now it was beginning to drip over the lip of the test-tube.
"Sure I'm not. I thought I'd weighed the powder, but look at this. Now I've got foam." One flake of foam fell onto his thumb. He held it under Ben's nose and then he spread it on his cheek. "We should remember this. It's perfect for practical jokes at the showers. Instead of water we can use foam next time." The teenager stopped talking. Ben was thinking the same thing as him.
"Could we use this somehow..." the supply officer trailed off.
"Sure. That should be no problem." Each of them took a bag and put the necessary chemicals inside. They would be able to prepare everything they needed in the supply officer's quarters.
As they got ready to leave the laboratory and Ben opened the door, they saw standing in front of them a certain officer who was as surprised to see them as they were to see him.
To be continued...
Sorry, the next chapter will be up by the end of July. is hidding somewhere