Easter break is a great time for two things; gardening and writing. It is easy to run the story over and over in my head when pulling a weed of trimming a hedge and when I get tired, I can sit at the computer for a while and write. After staring at the screen for half an hour, it feels good to get outside again and breathe. Tchaikovsky on the radio helps too.

Chapter 39

Something about the Moonlight

"So where'd you get the cool book?" Doom asked "It looks really old."

"Very perceptive of you" DeGroot smiled "It's about a thousand years old."

"Wow! That paper's really stood the test of time."

"It's not really paper" DeGroot stated "It's made of..."

"Yeah yeah, who cares" Calla interrupted "We have to head back to the base soon and there is still lots to see."

"I think I may stay here tonight" Harriet Doom surprised everyone "if there is room for me somewhere."

"But... but Dad said" Calla began to no avail.

"He said you two have to go back before it gets dark, but I like to walk on the beach at sunset."

"Really?" Blue asked "Me too, I go every evening."

"But you said you needed to get the vibe of the complex" Calla continued protesting.

"And I did when you showed me around" Doom nodded "so now I'd like to get the feel for this place too. Don't worry Squirt I'll be around tomorrow."

For the very first time ever, Calla did not like it when Doom called her Squirt.

"Well I suppose we'd better find out if there's a room available for you" Blue said as he stood.

"Oh I don't mind sharing" Doom smirked as she followed Blue inside.

"Interesting" DeGroot turned to a different section of his book "There are several references to young women throwing themselves at the Dragon Master, but he only had eyes for the Astrid the Fair and Frightening. It looks like Blue is a chip off the old block; I hope it means he can also easily bond with the dragons."

"What just happened?" Emerson wondered with his heart in his mouth.

"I'll tell you what just happened" Calla steamed "that little jerk just stole my best friend."

"To be fair, I think you friend stole him" DeGroot noted.

"Oh shut up!" Calla ordered as she stormed off.

There were many cleaned out cabins on the ship but the only furnished ones were taken. Calla thought luck was going her way again until Willow offered to give Doom a couch for the night in her room. Blue spent the next half hour showing the others some more of the lower decks where even Calla and Emerson had not been before.

"What's in that one?" The four friends were high on an overhead walkway just below the deck when Doom asked her question about one of the thousands of shipping containers.

As Blue tried to make out the label on the container she had pointed at, Calla noticed a familiar steel rectangle above her.

"It looks like this one only has raw materials for print manufacturing" Blue revealed.

"Rats I was hoping it would have a rocket motor or one of those lifting bodies you mentioned before" Doom sighed.

"Yeah most of them only have ordinary boring stuff inside 'em" Blue admitted.

"Have a look up there" Calla pointed "There's one of the false tanks we found when we first explored the ship."

"False Tank?" Doom asked.

"Yeah; when we looked below deck to see what was here, we found these tanks full of water" Calla explained "But we knew the ship would be lower in the sea if the tanks were full, so we investigated and found the tanks were fake and only a few feet deep; then we knew something was hidden down here."

"Very clever Calla" Doom nodded with a smile.

"Of course when Calla says 'We', she means Dad" Emerson admitted and received a kick in the shin from his sister.

They continued on their way but had only gone a few steps when the communicator on Blue's belt chimed cheerfully.

"I'm sending Amos back to base in half an hour; so anyone who wants a lift better meet him at the top of the ramp" Willow informed Blue.

"I didn't realise it was getting so late" Blue noted as he lead the way forward.

Fifteen minutes later, they all walked down the last steps to the lower bow and found Amos receiving his final instructions from Willow.

"Make sure Sarah gets me a comprehensive list from all Department Heads spelling out what they need back at base and what needs to be held in reserve; and tell them to prioritise everything so I know what to send first."

"No worries Boss" Amos nodded before greeting the new arrivals.

"Won't be long before we go" he said "I just need to wait for Sid; he got some gear he wants me to repair back at base."

No sooner had Blue acknowledged Amos, when Doom grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the ramp. No one knew it yet but Doom had a plan; and part of that plan was not to let Calla and Emerson leave without seeing her walk off with Blue.

"The sun will be setting soon" she noted "so we'd better get going if we're going to walk on the beach before it gets dark."

"Um uh okay then; bye everyone" Blue wasn't sure exactly what was going on.

"See you tomorrow Squirt" Doom waved as she walked away.

"Yeah maybe" Calla mumbled.

"What just happened?" Emerson asked again.

It looked to Willow as if steam was about to shoot out of Calla's ears as Doom and Blue wandered down the ramp and along the sand. She smiled to herself as she considered the possibility of jealousy paying a little visit.

"So... do you do this often?" Harriet asked a few minutes later.

"I told you before, I go walking along the beach every evening" Blue answered.

"I mean with pretty young girls."

"First time actually" Blue admitted "No offence but I usually like to be alone with my thoughts."

"A bit of a romantic huh?"

"I err... I'm not sure what you mean."

"Soft light in the sky, deep thoughts of universal contemplation, letting the aura of the world just wash over you..."

"It's just a good time to sort myself out" Blue revealed "Everything's changing so fast, I sometimes have hard time processing it all."

"Life is not for processing" Harriet declared "it's for absorbing."

"And you've been absorbing it all for years, whereas I've only had a few weeks; believe me, it takes some processing."

"I can sense a lot of conflict in you" Harriet Doom noted "and my spiritual insight tells me you fear what the future is bringing."

"When life changes, it is natural to feel concern about the best road to take; and you're just using my current uncertainty to manipulate the way I think about you by making yourself appear exceedingly wise, when you're actually just making it up as you go along."

Blue expected a violent reaction to his accusation, but was more than a little surprised when his companion just laughed.

"I don't know why Calla is so down on you" Harriet took Blues arm "I think you're cool."

"What are you doing? Blue asked with surprise.

"Relax kid; I'm just helping you out with your love life... and hopefully bringing immense alterations to mine."

"But I don't want help with my love life, whatever that is, and I thought you had a thing for Emerson" Blue was even more confused thanks the Rockhopper Penguin trying to trip him over (not an easy thing to do with flat webbed feet).

"Emerson thinks I've got a thing for Emerson, but he's gonna have to do a lot better than longing looks and witty banter to get my attention; and that's all he seems to know. You see Blue, Emerson is nice and there are many times when a man should be nice to a girl, but sometimes she needs a guy to be a little more... assertive."

"Have you bothered to tell him he should be more assertive?" Blue sneered.

"It doesn't work that way kid; as you said before, I have to manipulate the way he thinks about me."

"And you're doing this manipulating now by holding my arm?" Blue checked to see if he understood.

"Yup!" Miss Doom smirked.

"But Emerson doesn't even know you're walking so close to me."

"He will... when Calla tells him" Harriet smiled "or didn't you realise she's been pretending not to spy on us ever since we left the ship?"

"I thought I was just being paranoid" Blue stated.

"Your powers are getting stronger young Padawan."

"Pada-what?"

"Never mind" Harriet Doom smiled.

"So why is Calla spying on us anyway?"

"I'm sure she would say it's because you are monopolising her best friends time" Doom explained.

"Oh I see; that makes sense" Blue nodded.

"But it's actually because she likes you... a lot."

The Storm Petrel of Mild Surprise and the Magpie of Heart Stopping Shock had a quick round of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock; and the Magpie won.

"WHAT? Oh no, no, no; she barely tolerates me."

"Yeah I know the way she treats you, but whenever she and I were talking today, your name seemed to come up over and over" Doom explained "Blue said this, Blue did that... Calla is not a child any more but her attitude still need to mature somewhat."

"Wha... what should I do?" Blue stammered.

"That depends on whether you want her to like you or not."

"I... I don't know, well... I don't want her to hate me but I... I'm not sure how I feel; you and Calla are the only girls close to my age I've ever met."

"Calm down, breath deep and do nothing" Doom advised "I guess I was wrong; you do need to process life."

The sound of a diesel engine starting up drifted down the beach and soon the four-wheel-drive left the ship and headed back to base.

"You can relax now; nobody is watching us any more so we can change the subject if you like."

"Okay... good... yeah, oh... and you've let go of my arm" Blue sounded disappointed "It's funny really; I didn't realise how much I liked it until you stopped holding it."

"Calla mentioned you tend to be quite blunt" Doom giggled.

"Yeah I'm starting to get the feeling there are certain thoughts I should not voice" Blue admitted "I've never had to watch what I've said to such a high degree before."

"On one hand it's kind of refreshing not to have to keep guessing about you, but on the other hand..."

"On the other hand I shouldn't talk so much" Blue agreed "So how about I let you do all the talking for a while?"

"Ah... but what about?"

"Let's start with your name" Blue decided "I've never heard the name Doom before, even in literature; is it European?"

"You have got to be kidding me; you've never heard the word doom before?"

"The word yes and I've even played the old computer game, but never as a person's name; I'm guessing it's Scandinavian."

"Actually it's a keyboard player" Doom admitted.

Even the Penguin was looking confused and so the young lady decided to stop torturing Blue and explain.

"You are the first person I've met who really doesn't get it, so I will break with tradition and tell you what no one else knows" Doom looked comically serious "So you'd better not blab about it to anyone; especially not Calla."

"I... I swear" Blue stuttered.

"My real name isn't Harriet Doom and I'm originally from a settlement near Meiss Lake in northern California" she revealed.

Harriet stopped walking as she suddenly realised the gravity of what she was about to reveal. It was not easy to talk about, but she had held it in for too long. Feeling unable to tell those close to her, Harriet knew if she missed this chance to talk to a stranger like Blue, another opportunity may never come along; and so with the light slowly fading, Harriet Doom began to tell Blue her story.

Speaking of Tchaikovsky, I once learnt that the ballet dress known as the Tutu was named after the French slang term for tiny bottom. At first this was just an interesting piece of trivia, until the day I was looking through the anime dvd shelves at my local library. I came across one called Princess Tutu and everyone nearby wondered why I started laughing.