AN: The gang is finally out at sea...but you will soon see that some of them don't take to it very well...
Chapter Six: Sea Legs
Dinner had gone off without a hitch. Much to the delight of Zack and Cody, chef Paulo's staff was in charge of preparing the meals for the SAS students. They had been sufficiently spoiled with a buffet holding foods such as sirloin steaks, grilled salmon, steamed vegetables, pastas, salad and fruit bars, and even hamburgers and french fries for those addicted to fast foods.
Of course, Zack had gone completely insane, piling four plates high with all he could get. And then there was the desert table. Cody actually had to physically stop Zack from returning to the cart, which had anything from pies and cakes to various kinds of soft serve ice cream, after his third trip.
Cody and the others had eaten their fair share of the food as well and, as Poseidon entered an area of moderate seas just west of the Bahamas, they all began to regret it.
Being as huge as she was, Poseidon could take 30 foot swells and barely roll at all. For most, the 15 to 20 foot seas she was currently in was no big deal at all. For Zack, Cody, Bob, and probably half the SAS students, however, the ever so slight shifting of the deck under their feet definitely became a big deal.
The shower and restroom facilities for the boys section, located between the port and starboard hallways, had become a pretty popular spot. It was probably a two minute walk from their cabin under normal conditions. This night, however, it sometimes became a 35 second dash as first Zack, then Bob, and finally Cody eventually succumbed to sea sickness.
Bob, as luck would have it, had politely negotiated with his cabin mate and a few others and had ended up rooming with Mark a few doors down from the twins in cabin 3 which made Bob's dash slightly longer.
The four of them now sat in the boys' rec. room which occupied the triangle shaped space between the port and starboard hallways forward of the shower and restroom facilities. The room was designated a game room in some parts and a quiet room for studying in others. Right now Zack, Bob, and Cody all lay sprawled on their left sides in bean bag chairs as Mark sat in a recliner nearby playing a video game.
"Uhhh, why did I eat so much?" Zack asked moaning as Poseidon shifted herself under them.
"Uhhh, because you always eat too much" Cody replied, mirroring his twin's agonized voice.
"Hey!…yeah your right" Zack said, knowing the argument was useless.
"I guess we just need to get our sea legs" Bob said, a cold rag covering his face.
Zack and Cody looked over at Mark. The small frizzy haired boy was mashing away madly at his game controller.
"Why aren't you sick!" Cody asked in misery.
"Me? I was born with sea legs!" Mark said.
"Lucky you" Bob croaked.
"I think that was a dirty trick, giving us all that food on our first night out…I mean, they had to know we were gonna encounter these rough seas!" Zack said.
"Don't be so sure, from what I heard even chef Paulo got seasick" Cody replied.
"How'd you hear that?" Zack asked.
"Mom, she saw him tonight during her show, he had to run off to his cabin before he even got to serve his Chicken ala Paulo to the captain" Cody said.
"Oooo, please don't mention chicken…or any other food" Zack hissed.
Poseidon tipped slightly again.
"Time to go!" Zack said jumping up and running off toward the restrooms.
"We will eventually get used to this right Cody?" Bob asked.
"That's what the nurse said" Cody replied.
"Oh, you mean the nurse that's been roaming the halls since dinner with a cart full of Dramamine?" Mark asked.
"That'd be the one…that cart reminds me of a little ice cream cart like street vendors have. It should have music that plays 'row row row your boat' over and over as it goes down the hall" Cody said sarcastically.
"Ice cream…" Bob said shuddering and turning from his back onto his left side again "…geez Cody, Zack said not to bring up food again"
"Yeah, and now he's in the bathroom doing just that" Mark said laughing.
The others just looked at him blankly.
"Get it? Bringing up food...because he's in there and he's..." Mark began.
"Ha ha…I didn't know you were funny" Cody interrupted in a monotone voice before shakily standing to his feet.
"Where you goin'?" Bob asked.
"As much as I hate the sound of people retching, I better go see if he needs anything" Cody replied stumbling in the direction his brother had gone.
He met Zack coming out of the restroom spraying Listerine mist into his mouth.
"Hey bro, is it that time for you too?" Zack asked.
"No, I was just coming to see if you needed help or anything" Cody said.
"Thanks, but no, unfortunately everything came out okay in the end" Zack said.
"What is this, comedy night?" Cody said.
"Huh?" Zack asked.
"All the jokes about throwing up, first Mark, now you" Cody replied.
"Why what'd he say?" Zack asked.
Cody explained what Mark had said and Zack laughed a little at it then stopped suddenly, grabbing his stomach.
"Dude, don't make me laugh" Zack said.
"Sorry…heard from the girls?" Cody asked as they walked back towards the bean bag chairs.
"Max is just as bad off as us, don't know about Barbara, Max only stayed on the net long enough to tell me about herself" Zack said.
"I better log on and IM her" Cody said.
Since leaving the cell phone towers of the mainland, the only way for the SAS students to communicate with others in different parts of the ship was through the IM service provided on each student's laptop.
Cody walked to their cabin and sat down at his desk. He found the room to be a bit stuffy so he unlatched and propped open the porthole. Fresh sea air streamed into the room but it seemed to enhance the displaced feeling beneath him and intensify his nausea so he slammed it shut again.
He logged on and noticed Barbara was already signed on and waiting for him.
GeologyRox13: How are you m'lady?
Violinmaestro62: I'm fine but it seems as if the entire girls section is getting sea sick…miss you!
GeologyRox13: Same in our section, including me and Bob, and Max probably told you Zack's sick too…Mark's fine…it's only been half an hour and you miss me!
Violinmaestro62: Sorry to hear you guys are sick too, and yes she told me about Zack, it's weird how some take to the sea fine while others don't…and yes I do miss you, it's been a half hour too long!
GeologyRox13: I'd love to go do something together but I'm just so shaky and blah…it stinks too cause it's our first night out. I got some Dramamine from the nurse so maybe I'll be okay by morning.
Violinmaestro62: It's no problem I completely understand…if you're in similar shape as Max…trust me I understand. She got some of those pills too from our nurse. Just sleep as best you can and I'll talk to you tomorrow…I'll stay signed on in case you want to talk later.
GeologyRox13: I'll stay signed on too.
Violinmaestro62: I'll try not to hold it against you that you got seasick and I didn't ;-) Goodnight my darling.
GeologyRox13: Ha, see that you don't ;-) Goodnight.
Cody signed off as Zack stumbled in the cabin.
"Well?" he asked.
"She's fine, like Mark, and she's gonna rub it in that she didn't get sick when I did" Cody said smirking.
"Yeah…well that's great that she's great…do you have a gun?" Zack asked.
"Umm, no" Cody said.
"Darn, I was hoping you could shoot me and put me out of my misery" Zack said sarcastically.
"At least we get to have this exciting experience together…instead of one of us having to take care of the other like when mom and I were sick…" Cody began.
"…And you two drove me nuts all week long, yeah I remember" Zack said, interrupting.
"Well, we can help each other now" Cody said.
"Right, what's the first thing we should do?" Zack asked.
"Turn off the lights, get into our bunks, and go to sleep" Cody said already climbing up the rungs to his bunk.
"Great plan! You know, I really don't give you enough credit for your enginetuidy" Zack said hitting the light switch and flopping into bed.
"Ingenuity" Cody corrected, his voice muffled from landing face down on his pillow.
"Yeah, that too" Zack said.
"Tomorrow we'll be in the Bahamas…everything will be fine" Cody said already falling asleep.
"I hope so" Zack said yawning.
"Night bro" Cody said.
"Night" Zack replied.
The term Siamese dream was not a foreign one to Zack and Cody. They had experienced this phenomenon common to identical twins a few times before over the course of their lives. They would wake up at the same time and reveal to the other the exact same dream. Sometimes the shared dream would be pleasant, sometimes it would be very unpleasant.
This first night at sea, Cody was dreaming. What he didn't know was that his brother was also dreaming the very same thing…and this dream turned out to be one of the unpleasant ones.
Cody's POV in dream…
Cody was trapped, his leg was pinned under something heavy but he couldn't see what it was. There was water all around and it was getting higher as the large room he was in flooded. Zack was there, working feverishly to free him without much success. Cody could see that there was not much time left before he would be underwater. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt that if he didn't tell Zack to leave right then that his brother would die too.
"Zack, go! Get out of here while you still can!" Cody yelled over the sound of the water.
"I'm not leaving you here!" Zack yelled back.
"Zack…the water will get you too…GO NOW!" Cody said struggling against whatever held his leg down.
"NO! I'm getting you out of here!" Zack all but screamed at him.
The water reached Cody's neck and he felt certain he was going to die…
Zack's POV in dream…
Zack saw his brother trapped by the leg in a large room which was flooding. He knew if he didn't free him that he would lose his twin there. That was unacceptable. He set to work trying to remove whatever bound his brother's leg, its actual appearance lost within the dark fog of the dream. Suddenly realizing he couldn't move the object, Zack began to feel panic set in. The water was getting higher.
"Zack, go! Get out of here while you still can!" Cody shouted to him.
"I'm not leaving you here!" Zack replied.
In blind desperation he dove down to the now submerged object, straining with all his might to move the object. He surfaced, frustrated, and scared. He looked around the room for anything or anyone to help him.
"Zack…the water will get you too…GO NOW!" Cody said.
'Oh Lord…I'm going to lose Cody…right here…right now' Zack thought.
"NO! I'm getting you out of here!" Zack screamed as he felt tears coming to his eyes.
He saw the water inching towards his brother's neck…
Zack and Cody woke up and sat straight up at the same time, Zack striking his head on the bottom of Cody's bunk.
"Cody!" Zack said ignoring the pain and jumping out of the bunk.
"Zack!" Cody said, looking down from the top bunk.
Zack stood there in the center of the dark cabin, breathing hard, holding a hand to his heart, and visibly shaking.
Zack spoke very quickly, trying to tell Cody the details of the dream. Being very upset by the dream himself and seeing how freaked out Zack was, Cody jumped down from the bunk and grabbed hold of his brother's shoulders. He realized he too was shaking.
"Zack, Zack, calm down I can't understand you but it sounds like we had the same dream!" Cody said.
Zack calmed down a little and they sat down on the edge of Zack's bunk.
Cody gave his version of the dream and Zack confirmed it was the same one he'd had. When they were done comparing the dream they sat in silence for a few moments.
"What do you think it means?" Cody asked.
"I don't know, but that was the worst dream ever" Zack said.
"I thought I was going to lose you and it felt so real" he added, his voice cracking.
Cody, seeing how distressed Zack was, suddenly put his hand on Zack's shoulder and made eye contact with him.
"It was just a dream…nothing more, I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere" Cody said.
Cody suddenly thought about when they were younger and used to comfort each other after a bad dream or a thunderstorm. This was a lot like those times. This, however, was a departure from normal since Zack, being the oldest, was usually the one to comfort the more sensitive Cody.
Zack, who rarely ever cried in front of anyone, softly did so now as he hugged his twin.
"It scared me Codes" Zack said sniffing.
"I know, it scared me too…I mean…I thought I was about to drown" Cody said shivering at the thought.
Zack pulled away from Cody and looked him in the eyes.
"You know if it had been real I would have got you out, you know that right?" Zack said wiping his eyes.
"Yeah I know you would have" Cody said.
Zack shook himself, obviously trying to snap back into macho mode as fast as he could.
"Man, I hate nightmares!" he said standing up and walking to the porthole.
"Who doesn't" Cody replied.
A few moments went by with neither of them saying anything.
"Aww dude, check it out! Were coming up on Grand Bahama Island! I can see the lights in the distance!" Zack said suddenly sounding more upbeat.
Cody rushed over and looked. Then he groaned.
"The sun is starting to come up, look at the pale blue near the horizon, and I still feel like I was hit by a Mack truck" Cody said rubbing his temples.
Zack, who had forgotten about his sea sickness, suddenly remembered himself and groaned.
Both agreed it wasn't as bad as it had been, but it was still there.
"You think anyone will care if we spend today in our bunks" he said wandering back over to his bunk and flopping down.
"Probably…I guess we'll just have to try and get a few more hours in and then try and tough it out…we don't want to miss Grand Bahama Island…" Cody replied climbing back up in his bunk.
"I know…we'll sleep on the beach" Zack said.
"Good plan…see you in a few hours then" Cody said turning over.
"Okay…and hey Codes…" Zack said.
"Yeah?" Cody replied.
"Thanks, you know, for calming me down and stuff" Zack said.
"No problem…night" Cody said.
"Night…well, morning anyway" Zack said turning away from the porthole and covering his head to block out the lightening sky coming in from the porthole.