CHAPTER 88- BACK TO CIVILIZATION
Baby Thornton, as he was affectionately named by the ship's passengers, crawled across the floor which was littered with a variety of items. When one of his knees landed on a carton juice box, it smooshed the container flat and a stream of apple juice shot out of the short straw.
"You going to get that?" Jack asked lazily from his position on the top bunk. Naked from the waist up, he was leaning on one arm as he peered down on his son.
Elizabeth, lying on a bottom bunk, stretched her upper body sideways and looked down at the floor. "Nah. I'll get it later," she answered before languidly looking back at her computer.
The trio had been in their cabin for three days. Ever since the electrical cable and water ordeal in the cafeteria.
They had eaten eight meals each, gone through twenty juice boxes and bottles of water, washed all the diapers in the bathroom at least twice, taken two separate showers and three as a family, watched six movies on their computers, and made love seven times.
Jack went back to reading a book, one of Elizabeth's favorites, which she had managed to fit into the weight allowance by sacrificing some cosmetics. The paper pages felt old-fashioned between his fingertips but he liked the feeling. He finished reading the chapter and then looked down at his son again.
Aaron, dressed in an adorable onesie with the letters NASA on the front, threw a rattle across the room where it landed with a jingling sound. With a satisfied smile, he crawled after it, and then repeated the process.
"He's got a good arm," Jack observed when he heard the jingling. "Might be a ball player. Throwing Thornton."
Elizabeth looked up from her computer screen and watched her son throw the rattle again. "Maybe."
She returned her attention to her hologram messages, which she had finally receive yesterday. The ones from her parents were filled with messages of 'missing you', her father's discussion of work, and her mother's tour of their newly redecorated living room. A boastful Viola had also sent a short message but it consisted mostly of Elizabeth's nephew riding a tricycle for the first time, and her niece speaking barely understandable French to their nanny.
It was Julie's hologram message which irritated Elizabeth the most. She had watched it four times. It was only two minutes long and contained nothing of any interest. At first, Elizabeth had simply watched the hologram and not given it another thought. Later, out of boredom, she had re-watched it. She realized that the fact that it was uninteresting was what bothered her the most. Julie could make a flat tire sound exciting. The fact that she had seemed happy, somewhat pre-occupied with meeting the neighbors, and hadn't spilled a single ounce of gossip, worried Elizabeth.
"She's done something to our house. Or our neighborhood," Elizabeth told Jack. "She's hiding something. Maybe she's been evicted by the neighborhood watch group."
"Your mom said the neighbors like her. She's been going to their homes for parties and had them to our house."
"That's another thing," Elizabeth replied suspiciously. "We lived there a year and didn't get as many invitations as she's getting."
"Now you just sound jealous. If she had done something wrong, someone would have notified us."
"I guess you're right," Elizabeth reluctantly admitted.
She closed her laptop and looked around the cabin. One of her pillows was on the floor. She vaguely remembered Aaron had taken a nap on it earlier today. Or was it yesterday? The days had started to run together.
A towel – still damp from Aaron's most recent playtime in the shower, was draped over the room's sole chair, which also contained a pair of Elizabeth's undies.
"Where's Aaron?"
Jack glanced up from his book and looked over the side of his bunk. His son was nowhere in sight. "Must be under a bunk."
Getting off her mattress and down onto her hands and knees, Elizabeth looked under one bunk and then the other.
"There he is. He's eating a piece of cardboard. Do you think that's dangerous?"
"Not unless he swallows it." Jack responded in the same way that a sloth moves. Slow and without concern.
"Yeah, I guess," she agreed with a bored exhale of breath. "But one of us should probably crawl under and get him."
"Just call him out."
"Like a dog?"
"Why not? He knows his name."
Elizabeth moved a blanket out of the way.
"C'mon, Aaron. Come to mommy. Stop eating that possibly dangerous piece of cardboard which can't possibly taste good."
When the little boy chose to ignore her advice, Elizabeth lay on her stomach and reached out her arms towards him. "Why is the floor sticky here?"
"I think that's where we spilled the soup."
"I thought you cleaned it up."
"I cleaned up when Aaron peed when you were changing his diaper. You were supposed to clean up the soup."
"Oh, yeah. Right."
Elizabeth gently pulled her son out from the bunk and ran her hand through his messy hair.
The small boy had been thoroughly enjoying having his parents to himself for the last three days. As an added benefit, they had gotten lulled into a sense of tranquility so that they were to the point where they were pretty much letting him do whatever he wanted.
"Why is there a corn kernel here? We didn't even eat corn," Elizabeth asked as she pulled the small yellow kernel off of Aaron.
"It was in my tee-shirt. Sorry. I thought I threw it out. I found a couple of them."
"How'd it get in your tee-shirt? When did you have corn?"
"I didn't. It got in there during that whole fiasco in the cafeteria. I used my tee-shirt to stop the pipe geyser and then it was on the floor among all the spilled dishes and food and mess."
"We've been living like animals for the past three days. This place is a pig sty. Don't take this the wrong way, Jack. But I think it's time for us to rejoin the human race."
"We can clean up," he agreed as he closed the book in his hands. "But do we have to go back out . . there?" he pointed to the door as if it led to the jungle.
"Civilization is not so bad."
"Our son temporarily had the inability to feel pain or the need to sleep, he was lost floating through the transporter due to a lack of artificial gravity, and he almost got electrocuted," Jack reminded her. "And we're only half-way through our trip."
"It was all just temporary," she replied dismissively.
Now that the danger and excitement and trauma had passed, it had lost some of its direness. Elizabeth figured whatever didn't do them in just made them stronger. "You've got to get back to work –"
"I've been working from my computer," he interjected.
"Sitting lazily on the floor scrolling through your messages while your son crawls all over you isn't exactly the work you're used to."
Jack paused and thought about leaving the cabin. His mind played back his investigation into the damaged water pipes as well as some possible irregularities with contracts involving Coal Valley.
"I do need to follow-up on some things," he admitted with a spark of interest.
"And I've got to get back to teaching. I feel sluggish. We're going to turn into fat blimps if we stay in here any longer."
"Fine. But I want reassurances that nothing bad will happen to us out there."
Elizabeth chuckled. "Aren't you supposed to be the brave law enforcement officer?"
"Good point."
Jack jumped down from his bunk. "How about I get the dirty laundry? You get the food containers."
The downside of living in close quarters was that there was no place to put trash and the cabin had quickly become a mess. The upside was that the cabin was small enough and they had so few belongings that it was quick to clean.
Elizabeth left a large bag of trash at the refuse compactor and recycling room, and headed to the fitness center.
After three days of self-imposed quarantine, her body felt bloated and weak. The only exercise she had done had been playing with Aaron, and "couples exercise" with Jack which had elevated her heart rate and included some interesting positions, but wasn't exactly on the transporter's official list of recommended fitness activities.
The weights and stationary bicycles were being used, so Elizabeth hopped on the only available treadmill.
Her sneakers made a soft pat sound as they hit the revolving belt under her feet, and she adjusted the speed to a comfortable pace. Little red lights illuminated the small oval on her control panel indicating how far she had gone. The first mile was fine and actually made her feel good about herself.
Ten minutes. Elizabeth wiped a hand across her glistening forehead and silently read the digital output on the instrument panel.
Not bad for a married mother of one who hates to jog. While Jack's with Aaron at his office investigating whatever men investigate, I'm getting in top physical condition.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the man on the machine next to her hit his off switch and step down. He had already worked up a sweat before she had started, and she wondered how many miles he had run.
She debated whether to also stop.
Nah, I'm in good shape. I can probably do three miles with no problem. I know Jack wanted me and Aaron all to himself, but it was time to get out of the cabin.
. . . . . It's just a little hard keeping up with the machine.
Thirteen minutes later, a panting Elizabeth wished she had brought a bottle of water with her and wondered why treadmills had even been invented.
They should be called dreadmills.
She was just finishing her second mile when Alexandra, the five-foot ten-inch slender perfect specimen of a female who had been on Elizabeth's first transporter flight three years ago, stepped onto the empty machine next to her.
No. Not the gazelle, Elizabeth groaned. She makes me feel like a hippo plodding through the mud.
"Hi, Elizabeth." Alexandra's smile showed off her perfect white teeth which actually seemed to sparkle. Everything about Alexandra always seemed to sparkle, Elizabeth realized with a frown.
"Hi, Alex," Elizabeth replied with forced attempt at ease as she tried not to breathe too heavily. She hoped that the other woman didn't mind the nickname, but Alexandra was too many syllables for her to muster after running two miles.
"Is your machine working okay? It seems a bit slow," a concerned Alexander asked.
"It's fine," Elizabeth said airily and then sucked in a huge gulp of air when Alexandra bend down to tie her laces.
"If it's not, you can use this one. I don't mind swimming instead."
"No, it's fine. I'm on a slow-down stretch. Interval training," Elizabeth added knowingly. "I'll speed up right now actually. "
Damn it! Why did I say that?!
Elizabeth pushed the buttons and the pad under her feet began moving at an increased pace.
She moved as fast as she could. Her feet pounding the pad. She was vaguely aware that her pony tail holder had fallen out, but she kept going. Her arms moved back and forth by her side. She barely had time to watch the red indicator light move around the oval as she tried to breathe and answer Alexandra's polite questions about how she was enjoying the trip. Thankfully the other woman was doing most of the talking.
Although, she hoped that she resembled an actual runner, Elizabeth was pretty sure that she looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame running from the French police.
Cramp!
Breathe. Must breathe!
Must stop!
Elizabeth slammed her hand on the stop button and almost fell over onto it when the machine came to a stop.
Dear Lord, let me breathe!
"Finished already? Too bad. It's nice to have someone to talk to. Ten miles can get boring," Alexander noted as she kept up her own pace of eight-minute miles. "We'll have to start at the same time next time."
The green digital numbers indicating Elizabeth's distance of 2.5 miles seemed to shine especially bright but Elizabeth managed to hit the erase button before Alexandra could strain her neck and see them.
"Of course!" Elizabeth replied with a lopsided grin as she nonchalantly placed a hand on her side where the cramp had turned into a sharp pain. "Next time!"
"Your face is pretty red," Alexander said with concern as she continued running. "Are you feeling okay? I haven't seen you around the last few days. Have you been sick? You look kind of flushed."
Elizabeth gave a forced laugh. "I get red easily when I work out. Just my fair complexion. You should see me after I run a marathon. Sooo red. Bye now."
As soon as her back was to Alexandra, Elizabeth bent over and gulped in air.
I'm red because I can't breathe. I'm sweating. My blood vessels are dilating. I'm overheating.
This is worse than giving birth!
One look in the mirror and Elizabeth decided she needed a shower before Jack and Aaron got back to their quarters. Her face was still a brilliant red from over-working. Her body was sweaty. Even her hair was sweaty.
The shower felt heavenly as she sang her favorite song and lathered her hair into a fluffy pile on top of her head.
"You fill up my seeennssess. Like a night in a foreessstttt. Like the mountains in –"
The water cascading down onto her bare body stopped suddenly.
Elizabeth stopped singing, frowned, and looked up at the shower-head.
What happened? That was only about four minutes.
Darn.
She grimaced when she remembered the long showers they had taken as a family over the past three days.
We can't be out of water minutes for this week, can we?
I've still got soap in my hair.
Elizabeth reached her hand outside the shower and punched her code into the small panel of buttons. When she wasn't rewarded with a stream of water, she punched in Jack's code.
Nothing.
Finally, she punched in Aaron's code.
Three drops of water came out of the shower-head.
Aarggh! She griped and then stomped one of her feet.
Exiting the shower, she ignored the water dripping from her body onto the floor, and stood naked in front of the control panel as she re-entered each of the numbers one more time. The shower-head remained dry.
When they had first arrived on the ship, Jack had insisted that they ration their water minutes, but Elizabeth realized this was somewhat of an emergency. She had a head full of shampoo and needed water.
I just have to over-ride our system, she decided and began punching in the code for the next week. Before she could finish, a large blob of lather fell down from her forehead. She carelessly wiped it away, causing the shampoo to get into her eyes.
Squinting in pain, she stumbled across the small room and blindingly reached for a towel from the bar near one of the doors.
When her fumbling hands came up empty, she opened one of her eyes no more than a slit, and glanced at the empty towel bar. It was then that she remembered that Jack had taken all the laundry -and towels - to be washed.
Elizabeth was faced with nakedly going into her room and wiping her painful eyes on a piece of clothing or getting the water turned back on. As she quickly decided what to do, more soap blobs slid down her body and landed on the hard floor.
She decided to try next week's water again.
Staggering back to the control panel, she kept her eyes squinted as she punched in a sequence of numbers.
The effect was immediate. It just wasn't what she had hoped for. Or expected.
EMERGENCY!
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.
PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.
EMERGENCY!
EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.
PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.
The words blared from the intercom in the small bathroom, causing her to jump in surprise.
"No! No!" she screamed as she realized she must have typed in the wrong code. She frantically began pressing her fingers on the buttons.
EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.
EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.
"Turn off!" she screamed as she pounded more numbers.
The red emergency light in the corner of the bathroom was now flashing and a beeping sound emitted from the intercom.
When she heard loud voices on the other side of one of the bathroom dooms, a naked Elizabeth, her eyes still burning, frantically tried to make her way into her own room.
Thud.
Her body slammed into a wall before falling to the floor as one of her feet slipped on a wet soapy puddle. She lay sprawled like a rag doll as the door to the adjoining room began to slide open.
"What happened next?" Jack asked again. His face was scrunched in confusion as he looked at a wet-haired Elizabeth who was sporting a bump on her forehead as she sat on a lower berth dressed in damp clothes. She had already explained the situation once but Jack was unsure why she was still seemed upset.
"When the stupid alarm went off, I couldn't get the right code punched in fast enough and I heard voices coming from the other room. There was some kind of game going on over there with a bunch of friends. I was standing there naked, there were no towels, and I slipped when I tried to hurry up and get into our room before the door slid open. So now I've been seen naked by someone other than you."
Jack shrugged off her concern. "I don't think Susie or Joyce will think too much of it. Yeah, it's odd that they saw their teacher naked, but they'll get over it and they aren't ones to laugh and make fun of you."
Elizabeth glared at Jack. "It wasn't Susie or Joyce."
"Whoever," Jack said dismissively. "So a friend of theirs saw you. Just remind your students that they shouldn't gossip or tease and that everyone gets into an embarrassing situation at some point in their lives. They'll listen to you. They respect you. I don't think you have anything to worry about."
"It wasn't one of their friends." Elizabeth's nostrils flared in irritation.
"It was Linda?" Jack asked but didn't wait for an answer. "She's a grown woman. I'm sure she's seen other naked women. Stop worrying. She's totally nice and understanding and she was coming to help you."
"It wasn't Susie. Or Joyce. Or Linda," Elizabeth said coldly. "And it wasn't just one person. It was three."
Jack paused.
His face had a pensive expression and then his eyes got wide in horror.
"No?! It was Linda's husband, Keith?!"
Elizabeth nodded. "And two of his engineering friends. Actually, he had three friends over. But one of the guys couldn't fit in the bathroom, so only three males whom I barely know saw me totally naked. I suppose I should be grateful that the fourth couldn't fit," she added sarcastically.
"Are you sure they saw you naked?" Jack asked with a grimace. "Like really naked?"
"Yep. They helped me off the floor and into our room. One almost slipped on top of me when they first came in the room. Between the lights and the emergency beeps and the stupid intercom blaring EMERGENCY and the wet floor it was quite chaotic."
"Maybe they averted their eyes?" Jack offered hopefully.
"As they carried me in here?" she replied skeptically with raised eyebrows.
Jack paused. "Yeah. I'm sure they did. Grown men don't care about –
"One of them is that twenty-one-year-old right out of college. It's his first trip," Elizabeth interrupted.
"Umm. Yeah, but he probably couldn't see anything. Or maybe he didn't care. Yes. I'm sure of it. They didn't notice anything."
Elizabeth gave Jack a look of disgust.
"He mentioned my birthmark," she said irritably.
Jack looked confused at first. "But that's impossible, it's -. Oh man", he said with realization when he thought about the location of her small birthmark.
"Okay," he told her as he tried to alleviate her embarrassment and anger. "That's not so bad."
"Not so bad?!"
"He saw one breast. No big deal."
"If he saw one, I'm pretty sure he saw two," she said bitterly and then gave him another look of disgust that he didn't seem to grasp the horror of the situation of being caught naked in the bathroom. "They're thankfully in the same general vicinity. I'm not some mutant woman with one breast on my front and one on my back."
"What difference does it make if he saw one or two? They look the same!" a helpless Jack exclaimed.
"They saw my breasts!" she wailed.
"You've got great breasts," Jack said reassuringly. "It's not so bad that they saw them. Things could have been worse."
"After they had left and I had hurriedly thrown on some clothes, one of the guy's wife came with some towels. She works in the laundry. She said it's nice that I don't have stretch marks after having a baby."
"How'd she know that?"
"He told her! When he was telling her how he almost fell on top of a naked me. Luckily, I was so soapy, his hands slipped off of me and he landed on the floor."
Jack cringed. "That's a compliment. That he told his wife that you didn't have stretch marks," he said meekly.
"He saw my bare body! Think about where I'd have stretchmarks. And he looked long enough to know I don't have any!"
"Just your stomach! That's all he mentioned."
Elizabeth scowled and then huffed as she pulled her wet hair off her shoulders, took a band off her wrist, and looped it around her hair.
So . . . . two guys saw you totally . . . naked," Jack said cautiously as he considered the matter.
"Don't you want to hear what the third guy had to say?" Elizabeth asked tersely.
A bit of fear crossed Jack's face. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear. His wife had a great body but she had never been one to flaunt it. He knew that she tended to be on the modest side when compared to many women her age.
"The third guy? You mean Keith?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Linda came by with a razor about ten minutes ago."
"A razor?"
"She was trying to be helpful. Apparently, her husband told her that he had seen me naked and it looked like I must have forgotten to pack a razor on this trip."
"But you shaved your legs just the other day," Jack protested. "I saw you."
"He wasn't talking about my legs," Elizabeth retorted bitterly.
Jack's eyes opened wide in shock.
"Your underarms?" he meekly asked with false hope.
"Lower down."
Jack didn't say anything but simply put his face in his hands in defeat. He knew they should have avoided civilization.