Hiding From Your Voice

"C'mon, there's nothing to rely on… c'mon let's skip to the end."

The sound, which Rebecca 'Bomber' Brown could only describe as a small whale dying, echoed down the small halls of the ship and into her kitchen, the sound bouncing off every single wall before reaching her poor, tired ears. Trying to cut carrots at the same time as holding her head, Bomber accidently cut her finger and put down the knife angrily, sticking her finger in her mouth to stop the bleeding.

"Alright, you're dead whoever you are!" Bomber muttered to herself, although with her finger in her mouth it actually sounded more like 'awri, yer de oever ou argh'. With that she stormed from the kitchen and down the hall towards the bunks and bathrooms where the sound seemed to be coming from. Reaching the bathroom and tracing the sound to the showers, Bomber hammered on the door with her good hand.

"SHUT THE HECK UP!" She yelled at them, attracting the attention of Swain who was passing. He gave her a lop-sided grin and motioned to the door.

"Buffer singing again?"

Bomber gaped. It was Buffer who was singing? Well, she knew better than to wait around for him to come out and scold her for disrupting his shower. She scuttled off as fast as she could go, Swain's laughter following her down the hall and back into her kitchen. Once in there she collapsed against the counter in a sigh before noticing she wasn't alone in there.

"Ro? What are you doing here?"

Ro frowned. "I was looking for you but you'd disappeared. The X wants you."

Bomber frowned. "Why didn't she call me on the intercom?" She asked him.

Ro shrugged. It wasn't broken, he'd just made an excuse to go see her, something which Ro found very disturbing. This wasn't his usual self. But hey, why not just mess up his head a little more?

"Look, Bomber, we're back on the mainland on Friday and I thought maybe you and I could go grab something to eat."

Bomber glanced at him sideways, trying to see whether Ro was pulling a fast one on her or not. She eventually figured he wasn't, Ro was a mate now, and smiled. "Sure Ro. We'll talk about this on Thursday, okay?" With that she hurried off to see the X while Ro watched her go, feeling even more uncomfortable than ever before.

***

To the outside world Swaino was his usual self, but while being stuck up in this ship with his young family at home, Swain was a mess. He missed his girls terribly and now Sally was starting to forget his obligations and wonder why he wasn't home enough. Swain was worried not just about Chloe but also about Sally and how she was coping with everything. He knew of things like post-natal despression but he couldn't believe his Sally would suffer that, especially as she'd been so great after the birth of the baby.

Reaching under his bunk, Swain pulled out the diary he'd started to keep to give to Chloe when she was older. He wasn't much of a talker, despite what people saw, and couldn't imagine being able to relive every detail to Chloe in a few years time, so he'd decided to write it down. In truth it was Nav's idea, her own video diary a known secret now. Things didn't stay quiet for long, even on a big ship like the Hammersley. That was why the diary was no secret. Everyone knew he kept it and had even contributed to it. So, fishing it out, Swain wrote some more for his baby daughter.

***

Nav sat quietly in her room too. It just after dinner and quiet, Nav was not required on the bridge for another hour, unless something came up, and decided to use this time to think. Think. Think. About what? About what else? ET of course. Bloody ET. How could he do this to her, come back to her ship when they'd already said they wouldn…

Her thoughts were interrupted and in came the man she'd just been thinking about. Giving a sigh she turned away from him, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her visibly upset at having him here.

"Nav, we need to talk."

Nav ignored him.

"Nikki, please."

Nav bit her lip as she turned. "You know i… i… I can't have you here. You have to leave, please."

ET knew why Nav was so upset, he felt it to, and grabbed her and pulled her to him. "I'm so sorry Nikki, I'm so sorry." He pulled away from her. "Whatever it takes, okay? Then we can go on that holiday I promised." He gave her a smile and she gave up that stony expression for a brief grin. Relieved he kissed her forehead and pulled her back to him. After a brief pause he spoke again.

"How do you think I'd do as a ferry operator?" He asked. Nav just laughed.

***

It had now been ten hours since they'd left the Walsman island and things were getting tense. Any moment now Spider knew he'd get called up the Bridge to hear that Carly was missing and Ray was frantic with worry. But Carly wasn't missing. Spider knew exactly where she was. And she was bored. She gave him a kick, square in the back, and Spider flinched before falling off the bed. Carly's jingling laugh echoed through the room and Spider glanced up at her.

"Why are we doing this again?" He asked, knowing perfectly well that it would only take one person, or his cabin mate Buffer to walk in and see Carly before he'd be thrown off the ships and to the sharks.

"Cos you're not getting a date any other way." Carly giggled, causing Spider to frown. She was a pretty girl, a bit stupid, but nonetheless pretty and very entertaining. Spider couldn't help but risk it. Whatever happened would be worth it.

***

Friday came a little too quickly for Ro and before he knew what was happening he and Bomber were seated out in the sunshine, sitting around a resort pool and sipping the classiest drinks they could afford on their substandard pay. As he glanced at Bomber, laying back with over-sized sunglasses on, Ro couldn't help but laugh, something he rarely did. Bomber, shocked as he by the sound, pulled off her glasses and looked at him.

"You alright Ro?" She asked, a smile still on her face.

Ro took another long sip of his drink. "Perfectly fine, perfectly f…" He stopped and his grin fell.

"There's something wrong, isn't there." Bomber stopped. "All this, a nice pool, a nice meal out with my new friend and now you've gone mad on me." She laughed but stopped when she saw Ro wasn't laughing but rather staring at his drink in shock. "What is it?"

Ro glanced at her. "You better call someone." He said, his eyes drooping before his head falling forwards on to his chest. Dropping her glass Bomber ran over to him before calling out for help.

***

"Guess what I saw?" Carly asked Spider as the pair sat at a rather nice restaurant, waiting for their meal and watching the elite of the area stare down at Spider like he was a piece of dirt. He felt terribly out of place and suddenly wished he'd stayed on the boat like many others.

"What?" Spider answered lazily, his cheek resting on his hand as he glanced up at Carly. Despite how pretty she was he was rather bored with the whole date now and the food so far hadn't been great. After this he knew he'd HAVE to stop complaining about Bomber's food.

"I'll tell you, but you'll be too shocked to stay on your seat when you here it." She replied, giving him a playful smile. Suddenly Spider was interested and sat up straighter in his chair. He hoped her gossip, a natural thing for a girl her age, wouldn't disappoint.

***

Ro had been poisoned but he soon woke up from it and when he did he awoke to every one of his mates and crew standing around him but he only saw Bomber and gave her a smile. To his relief she returned it and grabbed his hand softly.

"I'm glad you're alright." She whispered to him as the others started talking.

"I'm glad you're here." Ro replied.

Bomber just grinned before launching back into her discussion with the others. "Yeah right Spider, you couldn't find a rosary bead in a nun convention."

The others laughed but Spider just scowled at her. "It's true though. Saw it myself."

"What's this?" Ro asked, having missed the first part of the conversation as he was asleep.

"Spider thinks he's discovered X's mystery man. He says he saw them together on the ship just after we landed."

"X has a mystery man? Well, that is almost as funny as Spider discovering something." Ro replied.

And everyone laughed, even Spider, because they were all just happy Ro was back to his normal, witty self.