A/N: Please note that I own nothing. I forgot that in the last chapter. Also, thank you for all the reviews. I'm planning to keep this story light and funny.
Sig sat angrily in the wheelhouse waiting for the crew to assemble. Today was the day his contest winner was due to arrive. He'd decided to wait until today to tell the crew about their guest for the trip. The last thing he wanted was the crew chatting when they should be working. Edgar and Norman already knew about their special passenger but they'd kept it mum at Sig's request. Norman, Jake and Nick were sitting patiently in the wheelhouse waiting for Matt and Edgar to arrive. Norman smirked at Jake's obvious discomfort at Sig's anger. He had no doubt Jake probably thought they were going to get in trouble for one thing or another. Judging by the nervous way Jake was twisting his hands, he'd probably confess before Sig even said a word. Matt and Edgar arrived in the wheelhouse and took seats on the bench closest to Sig.
"Well, now that you two have finally graced us with your presence we can get this meeting started" said Sig.
"I didn't have anything to do with it" stated Jake nervously.
"Junior, I don't care about your stupid pranks or whatever you are about to tell me. This has nothing to do with you" snapped Sig.
"Roger" mumbled Jake, his cheeks flaring red.
"What does this have to do with?" asked Nick.
"We are getting a new greenhorn for this trip. She's a contest winner picked by the Discovery channel" said Sig glaring at the camera.
"A she?" asked Matt.
"Yes, a she. She should be here today and once she gets here we will finish final prep and then head out" said Sig.
"Wait, why are we getting a girl greenhorn? Who agreed to this?" asked Matt.
"Matt, I don't pay you to think. I pay you to work" said Sig.
Matt's eyebrows rose in response to Sig's comment but he managed to stifle his verbal retort.
"Where is she going to be sleeping?" asked Jake.
"With you" snapped Sig. "Actually I don't care where she sleeps, put her in the Discovery crews bunk since it's their fault she's here in the first place."
"Sig, are you going to tell them a little about her?" asked Edgar with a smile.
"Why would I do that?" asked Sig warily.
"So they know what to expect" said Edgar.
"Fine, she's an aerobic instructor, a chef and some other stuff" listed Sig.
"A chef? Does that mean I don't have to be the cook for this trip?" asked Matt.
"Sure, she can do the cooking" said Sig. "Alright, if you don't have any more questions lets finish up what's left and get ready to leave."
"Roger" chorused the crew.
Samantha smiled wearily as the plane touched down in Dutch Harbor and skidded across the runway towards the tiny terminal. She'd managed to keep herself from vomiting on the plane ride from Anchorage. Not everyone on the flight had been as lucky and the sound of retching had filled the plane for the last 45 minutes. The plane pulled to a stop and the pilot quickly opened the door. Samantha all but bolted out of the plane taking big gulps of fresh air as soon as she crossed the threshold of the door.
"Good luck sweetie" said the pilot handing over her duffle bag.
"Thanks, I'm sure I'll need it" replied Samantha.
She walked through the terminal and out to find a way to get to the boat. John had given her a huge list of instructions but no real guidance on how to accomplish them. Her list had said, get to the Northwestern yet there was no indication of what modes of transportation would be available. Lucky for her there was a taxi waiting outside.
"Where to missy?" asked the driver.
"The Northwestern" replied Samantha.
"Well, that's quite specific. Usually people just say the dock" said the driver with a smile.
"I'll remember that for next time" said Samantha.
The driver chatted nonstop while the cab wove through the streets of Dutch Harbor. Samantha nodded and responded with vague sounds of understanding at what she hoped were the appropriate times. She wasn't in the mood to listen to the travelogue or whatever the driver was expounding on. All she wanted was to get on the boat and get the two weeks over with. Samantha looked down at her hands, the nails were painted a deep red and her fingers were adorned with a few rings. She doubted she'd have any nail polish left on her fingers by the time the trip was over, probably nothing more than stubby nails bitten down to the quick. The cab came to a sudden stop and the driver set the car in park.
"Well sweetie here are the docks. The Northwestern should be down there on the right" said the driver.
Samantha paid the fair plus a generous tip and grabbed her duffle bag from the trunk. Waiving goodbye to what she imagined would be the last friendly face for a few weeks she started down the dock.
Matt and Nick were quietly restringing pots on the deck when they saw Samantha approach. Matt dropped the spool of thread on the pot and smacked Nick in the shoulder.
"Hey, do you think that's the girl?" asked Matt.
"I don't know, go find out" said Nick.
Matt didn't need to hear the suggestion twice, he was up over the side and onto the dock in a heartbeat.
"Hi, are you the fan?" asked Matt.
"Yes, my name is Antha" said Samantha.
"Wow, that's a cool name" said Matt.
"Thank you" said Samantha.
"Let me take your bag" said Matt.
"Ok" said Samantha passing her bag to Matt.
He gingerly tossed the bag onto the deck before turning back to face Samantha a worried look on his face.
"There wasn't anything breakable in there?" he asked.
"Um, just a priceless Ming vase" said Samantha with a smile.
"Right, well Edgar can probably melt it back together" said Matt.
Samantha just smiled and watched as Matt jumped off the dock climbing like a spider monkey down to the deck of the boat. Once he was on deck he looked back up at where Samantha was standing.
"Ok, just do what I did" said Matt.
Samantha nodded and hesitantly started to follow Matt's path down to the deck. She managed to make it about 5 feet from the deck when she got stuck.
"Ok, just jump down to the deck" prompted Matt.
"I don't know if I can" said Samantha.
"It's not that far" said Matt.
"It looks a little far" said Samantha.
"Yeah, well Sig's not going to let you spend the trip perched on the rail" said Matt.
"Fine" muttered Samantha as she dropped to the deck.
She landed completely gracelessly on the deck of the Northwestern. Matt scrambled over and helped her to her feet making a big show of brushing her off.
"I think you are all still in one piece" said Matt happily.
"Barely" muttered Samantha.
"Your ass is probably going to be hitting the deck a lot, it's just getting aquatinted with it a little early."
"So Matt, who's your friend?" asked Nick.
"Nicky this is Antha, she's our special guest" said Matt.
"Nice to meet you Antha" said Nick.
Samantha smiled shyly.
"That's a really cool name is it short for something?" asked Nick.
Samantha was about to answer when Sig's booming voice sounded over the hailer.
"MATT, GET HER UP HERE AND GET BACK TO WORK."
"Excuse me, I'll need to meet my favorite captain" said Samantha in what she hoped was a sincere voice.
"Good luck Antha" said Nick.
Samantha nodded, grabbed her bag and followed Matt to her doom or rather to the wheelhouse.
Sig sat like a king in his thrown waiting for his newest slave to arrive. Edgar and Norman sat casually on the bench seat. Samantha entered the wheelhouse alone, Matt had set her bag in their stateroom before shoving her up the stairs.
"Hi, I'm Antha. I'm so excited to be here. This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you for allowing me on your boat" gushed Samantha.
"Yes, well I'm sure you're thrilled. But this isn't going to be a vacation for you. This is a working boat and you are now part of this crew for better or worse" explained Sig.
"Edgar is the deck boss and he'll give you the rundown of what you are going to be responsible for" continued Sig.
"Ok, well it was nice to meet you" said Samantha.
"Come on Antha, lets get out of Sig's wheelhouse" said Edgar.
She followed Edgar down the stairs into the galley with Norman trailing behind her. Once in the galley Edgar stopped suddenly and Samantha plowed right into him.
"Well, if you wanted a hug you could have just asked" said Edgar teasingly.
"Sorry, but your break lights aren't working" said Samantha.
"I'll have to get those checked out" said Edgar. "Anyway, this is the galley and your primary responsibility on this trip. John told us you were a chef so we expect some delicious dinners."
"No problem" said Samantha.
If all she was going to be doing was cooking in the kitchen she'd survive two weeks with little stress.
"So this is the fridge with most of the fresh veggies and stuff in it. The dry storage is over this way" said Edgar walking down the hall. "Then the rest of the frozen food is outside in the big reefers."
"Is all the meat frozen?" asked Samantha.
"Yes" replied Norman.
"How long does it take to defrost?" asked Samantha.
"Usually we defrost in the microwave" said Edgar.
Samantha made a face and Edgar turned his full attention to her.
"Listen Antha, this is a working boat and we don't always have time to pre-plan meals so don't look like it's the worst thing in the world to defrost shit in the microwave" said Edgar angrily.
Samantha's eyes widened and for a moment she felt the tell tale feeling of tears pricking at her eyes.
"I didn't mean anything by it" said Samantha her voice meek.
"Don't cry. There is no crying on this boat, that's a rule" said Edgar.
Samantha nodded but said nothing. Edgar moved towards the staterooms and Samantha dutifully followed. Once inside the stateroom Edgar knelt down over Samantha's bag.
"Ok, lets see what you brought" said Edgar.
Norman pulled Samantha's hand and she sat with him on the lowest bunk.
"It's standard procedure" said Norman. "Just making sure you have everything you need and nothing you don't."
"It's fine, I have nothing to hide" said Samantha.
"Alright, 3 sets of rain gear, 3 pairs of boots. Why do these boots have flowers on them?" asked Edgar.
"Because I thought it would be a good idea to make sure they were different from everyone else's, since my feet are smaller" explained Samantha.
"Yeah, well we could tell which are which because yours are smaller" said Edgar.
Samantha's cheeked infused with color and Edgar chuckled softly before reaching back into her bag. He pulled out her clothes, noting which should be worn on deck and which were best for inside.
"What is this?" asked Edgar pulling out a black roll.
"Those are 3 knives for cooking" replied Samantha.
"Can I open it?" asked Edgar.
"Yes, of course" said Samantha.
Edgar reverently opened the knife roll and pulled out a wicked looking cleaver. He admired it for a moment before placing it back in it's spot before removing a small paring knife. He was about to run his finger across the blade.
"Stop, it's really sharp. I just had them professionally sharpened a few days ago" said Samantha anxiously.
"I want to test them out" said Edgar.
"That's fine, but not on your hand" said Samantha. "You should be able to slice an overly ripe tomato with no problem."
"Good luck finding an overly ripe anything on this boat today" muttered Norman.
"So where did you train to be a chef?" asked Edgar.
"The CIA" replied Samantha.
"Wow, did they teach you how to kill someone with a knife?" asked Edgar.
"Any idiot can kill someone with a knife" said Samantha. "But they did teach us how to completely gut something, chop it into pieces and make sausage out of them."
"Did you get selected to be a chef in the CIA through a test or something?" asked Norman.
"It's not the CIA like central intelligence agency it's CIA as in Culinary Institute of America" explained Samantha.
"Oh" said Norman.
"I'm sure it makes it a little less impressive. Although given the opportunity I could easily make sausage out of a human" said Samantha helpfully.
"I'll make a note of that in case we need to use your particular skill during the trip" said Edgar with an evil smirk.
Samantha smiled and Edgar turned his attention back to her bag. He pulled out the rest of her clothes, a pair of sippers and finally her sleeping bag.
"That is a ridiculous amount of stuff crammed into this bag" remarked Edgar.
"Yes well I figured just one bag would be best" said Samantha.
"Alright everything seems fine. This bunk will be yours" said Edgar pointing to the top most bunk.
"How am I suppose to get up there" said Samantha to herself.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out or someone will happily toss you up there" said Norman.
Edgar and Norman left Samantha to get settled in, telling her to meet them outside once she was done.
Samantha shrugged on another sweatshirt and some fuzzy socks before emerging from the stateroom. She stopped in the bathroom to pee. While she was in there she changed the roll of toilet paper that was dangerously close to running out. She walked into the galley and found Matt and Jake laying on the benches with their eyes closed. She quietly walked into the kitchen with her plastic water bottle. She opened the fridge and used the bottled water to fill her own bottle. As she closed the fridge she found Sig standing behind it.
"Wow you scared me" squeaked Samantha.
"Yes, well I'm sure it will happen often. I need to talk to you upstairs" said Sig.
Samantha followed Sig up the stairs to the wheelhouse. Once up there he told her to sit and then handed her a notebook.
"Thank you" said a very confused Samantha.
"Don't thank me, it's from John. You are suppose to keep a journal about your time on the boat so you can blog about it when the episodes play" explained Sig impatiently.
"So not only am I suppose to survive just being on the boat I'm suppose to document it so I can write about it later? What an asshat" said Samantha.
"Is that anyway to talk about the person who selected you to win the contest" chided Sig.
"In a word yes" said Samantha. "If that's all I'm going to store this somewhere."
"You can go. We are leaving in about an hour so if you have last minute phone calls to make now is the time" said Sig.
Samantha walked out of the wheelhouse trying to think of anyone she'd want to call, deciding there wasn't she just went back to the stateroom to drop off the journal and then planned to slip outside to get her last glance at civilization.