Author's Note: School has begun, so my time in between posts might be a little longer. Gonna try and keep up on it, but homework comes first.
Also, not sure if you're all reading this, but I want to give a quick thanks to some wonderful people: BluCrayonsRTasty, Dolenz, Farfisa, JediStarMonkee, Cellomouse, and Justpatches. You know why and I want to thank you all again. Truly, truly wonderful people. Monkee friends make the best friends ever. :D
Chapter 58: Investigation
"We're on the Titanic!?" Davy exclaimed. "The Titanic that sank in the middle of the ocean!? That Titanic?"
"There's only one Titanic, Davy," Mike answered.
"How do you feel, Mike?" Peter asked.
"Better," Mike answered. "I think Piper's spell worked. I'm not sick anymore. Just a little dizzy."
"That should pass in a minute," Piper smiled.
"What are we gonna do!?" Davy exclaimed. "We can't die here!"
"Where are we gonna go, Davy?" Micky asked. "We're in the middle of the ocean."
"We gotta do something!" Davy answered.
"Like what?" Mike asked. "Go warn the captain? "Yeah, excuse me, captain, we're time travellers from the future and we wanted to tell you that you're going to hit an iceberg and sink."
"He'd never believe us," Peter said. "This ship is supposed to be unsinkable. He'd never believe it would sink."
"Yeah, that's the part of that he wouldn't believe," Micky laughed.
"We can't do it anyway," Piper said. "We can't warn anyone or tell anyone. Whether they'd believe us or not. We can't change history."
"So we just sit here and watch one of the biggest disasters of all time take place in front of our eyes?" Davy balked.
"We have to, Davy," Mike sighed.
"So many people are gonna die," Peter mumbled sinking desolately onto a pile of dirty laundry.
"Why exactly can't we change history?" Davy asked. "Wouldn't we be heroes if we could stop the Titanic from sinking?"
"Of course we would, Davy," Micky said. "But those are the rules."
"Who cares about the stupid rules?!" Davy exclaimed. "This isn't a damn vacation! We were cursed here! I don't want to die here!"
"None of us do, Davy," Piper said. "But we can't change anything. It's not just about the rules. Things happen for a reason. Even tragedies like this. Were it not for these tragedies, some of the advancements we've made wouldn't be possible."
"What good could letting a bunch of people die do?" Davy asked.
"A lot of things have come from tragedy," Piper answered. "Medicines have been developed to fight disease because the disease killed so many. The massive amount of people dying from polio led researchers to develop penicillin. A lot of technology has come from the military. And I hate to say it, but there were even some significant medical advancements made because of the nazi war camps. Mostly in genetic research. More than that, after disasters, rules are changed to protect. If these things didn't happen, we wouldn't be where we are now."
"The biggest reason for the tragedy on the Titanic was the lack of lifeboats," Peter added. "They changed the regulations so every ship has to have a certain number of lifeboats on board. They also instilled mandated drills and inspections. There were warnings that went ignored and so they mandated all wireless communications be manned 24/7. Not to mention it was only then that red flare became officially seen as a distress signal. New safety measures were taken in the construction of ships and the disaster ultimately led to the creation of the coast guard. None of that may have happened if the Titanic hadn't sunk. Sure, other ships probably would have sunk, but because this ship was so popular and publicized, not to mention known as unsinkable, it wouldn't have had the same effect."
"Oh," Davy said sounding dejected.
"That's why we can't stop this," Piper said. "Too much rides on it. It's horrible and it's devastating, but we can't do anything. We don't know how much of the world will change because of it. The smallest event can affect the biggest things. We need to be very careful."
"So we just sit here and do nothing?" Davy asked.
"Unfortunately," Mike said.
"Do we have to stay here though?" Micky asked looking around the room. "I'm sure if someone comes in here, they'll question what the heck we're doing in here. I doubt passengers are allowed in here."
"No," Mike said pushing himself up slowly. "We need to blend in. Do we change our clothes?"
"Only a little," Piper said. "Hold still." She waved her hands in front of each of them and their clothes once again changed to match the time period they were in. The boys' pants were long, dark, and made of wool and their shirts were plain white cotton that buttoned all the way down. Mike and Peter had black suspenders holding up their pants, but Davy and Micky, having a bit more hips about them, had their suspenders hanging lazily by their legs. Piper wore a plain loose-fitting black dress that clung to the floor and had long sleeves.
"Why do we have to wear itchy clothes!?" Davy asked scratching at his legs.
"Cause we have to use the same material they would have worn to blend in," Piper answered.
"Yeah, but they had cotton, didn't they?" Davy asked.
"Yes, but because of the weather, they wore wool," Micky answered. "It's heavier and keeps you warmer. Being itchy is just a trade off."
"Well it sucks," Davy muttered.
"Wait till we go outside," Mike answered taking a wobbly step forward. "Let's go find someplace to lie low."
"Lean on me till you get your sea legs," Micky said rushing over to help Mike. He could tell Mike was about to argue, but just sighed and let Micky lead them out of the room. They made it up the staircase they'd been on and checked the map. They located the 3rd class a deck below them on the middle deck along with the dining room. They figured it would be easier to blend with the 3rd class since they were mostly ignored anyway.
Mike got better with each step, but Micky suggested they sit down at some of the tables in the dining room and wait for morning when they'd be able to eat. In the meantime, Micky and Piper wandered around, hoping to find an empty room somewhere. Micky wasn't sure what the date was and therefore didn't know how much time they had. He only hoped that they'd be able to leave before the ship sank. Piper had assured them all that she doubted that they would be here when the ship hit the iceberg, but Micky still worried about it.
It took them a few hours, but they finally found a room that appeared empty. It looked like it was only empty, however, because of maintenance issues, but they figured they'd take it. It was better than nothing and Piper could do a few spells to fix the bunk beds for them. They'd just have to be sure not to get caught staying in the room in case the officers questioned them and deemed them stowaways.
When Micky and Piper got back to the dining hall, Mike, Davy and Peter were already eating and had gotten plates made for Piper and Micky, too. Micky told them about the room they found while they ate and told them about the conversation they overheard between a crewmember and officer about the Devil.
"Do you think we should keep an eye on him?" Davy asked scratching his legs again. "See what he's up to?"
"It couldn't hurt," Mike answered. "We could cut him off before he does anything."
"We'll have to track him down first though," Peter said. "The crew was looking for him and weren't having much luck."
"What do you think he's up to this time?" Micky asked.
"No idea," Mike said. "There's not much he can even do aboard a ship."
"Alright," Piper said. "Since we're done eating, why don't we go look for him."
"Should we all go?" Davy asked.
"Probably split up," Mike said.
"How do we let each other know if we found him?" Peter asked.
"I think I can whip something up," Piper said. "We won't be able to communicate, but we can send a signal. Mike, do you still have any coins or anything from Tombstone?"
"I think so," Mike answered rummaging in his pocket. He pulled out two coins and set them on the table. Piper took them in her hands and mumbled something silently. When she finished, she handed one to Mike and held the other one in her hand.
"How do we wanna split up?" Piper asked.
"Me and Peter," Mike said after thinking for a moment. "Then you, Micky and Davy."
"Ok," Piper said. "I enchanted these coins. If you see him, squeeze the coin for 10 seconds. The other coin will start to shake, alerting me."
"How do we know where to find the other group?" Peter asked.
"The coins," Piper said. "It's like the hot and cold game kids play. But it won't get hot. It'll vibrate more if you go in the right direction; the closer you get."
"Cool," Davy said.
"Ok, according to the map, there are only two decks below us," Micky started pulling the picture to his mind, "and six above. So Davy, Piper and I will start down below. I doubt he'll be in either of the bottom two decks. They're mostly engine rooms and cargo holds."
"Might be a good place to hide, though," Peter said.
"Yeah, but I don't see him hiding much," Mike agreed. "Peter and I will start at the top and work our way down."
"You sure you'll be ok?" Micky asked.
"Yeah, I feel better after eating," Mike admitted.
"The spell will only last till tonight," Piper said. "I'll have to do it again. Take it easy. No sudden movements."
"Got it," Mike said getting up from the table. He was standing more firmly on his feet and most of the color had returned to his face, so Micky let it go. Micky, Davy and Piper started out wandering around the Orlop deck. They couldn't really sneak into the engine or boiler rooms, so assumed the Devil couldn't either. They didn't find him in any of the baggage or cargo rooms. They moved next to the Lower deck, which had a few 3rd class cabins, all full and buzzing with people who paid no attention to them. They again couldn't get into the engine rooms or boiler uptake rooms, but checked the swimming pool, post office, and squash court with no result.
They'd already looked at the Middle deck before splitting up, so moved to where they had started: the Upper deck. Most of the rooms here were second class and third class rooms along with quarters for the crew and more inaccessible engine uptake rooms and boiler uptake rooms. Again, they found nothing. Micky could tell Davy was starting to get annoyed, but knew they had to press on.
They moved up to the Saloon deck and started looking around there. A few more third and second class rooms were at one end and a second class dining room, kitchens, pantries and first class dining room. They met up with Mike and Peter in the third class open space area. Mike informed them that after looking around for several hours, they hadn't seen anything of the Devil either. They were all hungry and decided to go down for some lunch to try and think about plan B.
"So now what?" Peter asked rubbing his feet a little. "I don't wanna walk all over this ship again in these shoes."
"No, we can't," Micky sighed. "We didn't get caught earlier because we were lucky. I doubt we'll be lucky again. We just have to hope that he's not stupid enough to pull anything while we're all stuck here. However long that might be."
"Well, we actually found out the exact date upstairs," Mike said. "It's April 13th."
"So the ship sinks in two days?" Davy asked a little loudly. Mike hushed him and looked around to make sure they hadn't drawn too much attention to themselves.
"Yes," Mike whispered. "We were only in Tombstone for two days and we're jumping closer and closer to home, so hopefully we'll get out of here before then and get home."
"Guys, the ship hits the iceberg tomorrow night," Peter clarified. "Very late. Can't remember the time, but between 11 and midnight. The ship takes 2 and a half hours to sink, so technically it sinks on the 15th, but that's not really two days. It's more like a day and a half. We have to be gone before that if we want to avoid being here when this all goes down."
"We may have to talk about what happens if we are still here," Micky said dreading the thought.
"I doubt we will," Piper said. "Magic has a way of doing that. The curse itself won't kill us, so it'll make sure we leave before then."
"I really hope you're right," Mike said, though the look of worry on his face matched the feeling in Micky's stomach.