"The Caca-what?" Heidi said, confused. She looked out the window. "Oh, a ship. Why do we need to know this?"

Jessica shrugged. "I just remember that Jack is the one who captured it. Add that to the fact that there isn't a harbor around for miles. It might be the one on which Jack gets his orders."

Ryan blinked. "Uh... okay. But what happens to us, then? There's nowhere for us to go..."

"Except for with the Surprise."

Ryan snorted. "Look, Timmy will have the travel thingymabob ready in no time. You just wait. I bet we won't even be here when the Acheron first hits." He smiled. "Now I'm going to go below to change. Bye!" With that, he walked out of the room, still dripping from his earlier fall.

Heidi glanced after him. "Okay..." She turned to Jessica. "Hey, wanna go up? Haven't been there since, forever."

Jess smiled. "Sure. Just grab something warm. It's cold up there."

Heidi nodded and grabbed a sweater, then started out after Jessica. They both came up just as Jack went over the side, climbing down into a boat. Jessica smirked and said, "Ooh, full costume. Must be something important..."

Heidi rolled her eyes. "Okay... now what?"

Jessica glanced at her. "Uh... how about we go up?" She pointed at the lubber's hole.

Heidi snorted. "No thank you. You recall..."

"Your 'disagreement' with heights. Yes, now I do." She sighed, then glanced at the quarterdeck. "Hey, the other guys are over there." She started over, Heidi quickly following. "Hi, guys," she said as she walked over.

Timmy and Trevor glanced at them, grinning. "Hi. What's up?"

"The topgallant," said Jessica, not really thinking.

Timmy glanced at her. "Huh?"

Jessica blinked, then, closed her eyes. "Oh, sorry. The topgallant. It's the sail WAY up there. The one at the top." She pointed at the sail on the top.

Trevor snorted. "Oh." He turned back to the people they had been talking to. "Um, these our our friends, Jessica, and Hei-" Jessica gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs. "Heida Heida! That's our nickname for her. Her name's Hannah, though." He grinned, and Heidi winced.

"But if YOU all call me that, I'm going to whup your rears," she said, glaring at Trevor, who smiled sheepishly. The Midshipmen who Trevor and Timmy had been talking to looked at her kind of funny, a bit at loss for words. Jessica rubbed her head.

"Way to go, Heidi," she whispered. She turned to the Midshipmen. "And could you all introduce yourselves...?" They seemed to recover, and introduced themselves. Jessica nodded when they finished. "And... is this everyone? All the Midshipmen, I mean?"

One of the midshipmen called Grant stepped forward. "Aye. except for Babbington, who's down in the sick bay."

Jessica nodded thoughtfully. "Ever heard of Calamy? Peter Calamy?"

William smiled and nodded. "Aye. I served with him on the Leopard. Very pleasant."

Jessica nodded again. "All right... Thanks." With that, she turned and started towards the Cabin. Heidi froze, glancing from Jessica to Trevor to Timmy, then back to Jessica again.

"Wait!" She hurried after Jess. "What was that all about?"

Jessica glanced at Heidi. "I figure that Calamy must be on the Cacafuego, and is going to be transferred over. It's just really weird... I wasn't aware that babbington was on the Surprise. I wonder if his dog is here..." Heidi stopped for a moment.

"Dog? What dog?" She shook her head confusedly, then rushed after Jessica again. "Could you PLEASE explain to me what's going on?"

Jessica looked at Heidi distractedly. "Jack is going to get his orders on the Cacafuego. Parslow is going to be transferred over to the 'Fuego, and Pullings will move up. Calamy will be transferred over to here, and maybe Grant will go to the other ship. 'Cause I only remember reading about him on the Leapord. Of course, I probably could have read about him, or he might have been on the Surprise in a later one... I only read up to the fifth. I always meant to read more..."

Heidi blinked confusedly as the two walked down the stairs. "Books? There's books on the Surprise?"

Jessica glanced back at Heidi. "Not the Surprise herself, but on Aubrey and Maturin. Like I said to Ryan before, There's a lot you don't learn about them that are in the books."

"Like...?"

Jessica waited until they got into the cabin. "Like the fact that Maturin is a British intelligence officer."

"A what?"

Jessica sighed. "A spy."

"Why?" Heidi still looked confused.

Jessica glanced at her friend, then walked into their quarters and sat down on her hammock. "I don't know. I didn't get that far..."

Heidi rubbed her head. "So, in what book does this happen?"

"This?"

"This- the... the... the Suprise, and the Acheron. That whole bit. With Calamy, and Blakeney, and the Cacafuego."

Jessica played with a stray string on her hammock. "I- I'm not sure... The thing is, the Cacafuego part happened in the first book, 'Master and Commander'. And one of the fights that jack and Stephen have is in 'Post Captain'. It's all spread out... They just took small details from each book and made it into the movie. But, I might be wrong. I only got to the fifth book, like I said before."

"Well how many damn books are there!" heidi was getting a bit upset.

"Urm... fifteen, methinks."

Heidi sank back into the hammock. "Great," she muttered. Jessica hesitated.

"Uh, but I might know some of the stuff that goes on. And how to get on the Captain's good side, if that's possible."

Heidi glanced over at Jessica, eyes narrowed. "Whaddaya mean, 'his good side'. I thought he was nice."

"Yeah, you only saw how he was with guys around him. But in the books, it says he doesn't like to have women aboard."

Heidi snorted. "Women? We're just kids."

Jessica shook her head. "Times are different back now. We would be young women, young adults, I guess. But haven't you seen the age of some of the sailors? At least the midshipmen. Twelve, sixteen, and who knows what else... and the ship's boys, too. Haven't you seen them?" She paused, thinking. "Back now? Geez, that doesn't sound right..."

Heidi leaned back into the hannock again, pulling the blanket over her head. "Whatever... I just won't get in his way, that's all. And if I do see him, I'll just come down here. Easy. And Timmy will have the time travel thing ready, and we'll go back home." She smiled and closed her eyes. "This will be just a dream when we get back. Everyone will forget, and it'll just be a weird dream..."

Jessica closed her eyes, sighing. "He's not a womaneating guy, Heidi. He just doesn't like to see people get in his way, distractions. That's what he sees us as, I think. A distraction." Heidi didn't answer, and Jessica heard a faint music coming from under the covers. She rolled her eyes and leaned back in her own hammock. "You're gonna ruin your ears that way..." she murmured, drifting off to sleep.