****** Chapter 2

"Look at them, it's always the same. You could get the impression that Spider was right with his mermaid tale. Is there any male sailor on board who's not standing down there?"

Bomber stood outside the bridge with Kate and looked down to the stern, where Sara was preparing to leave the Hammersley. The CO was talking to her, Swain was there too and Buffer as well. Spider and 2Dads stood at one of the doors, chatting and trying to look as if they had something really important to talk about that couldn't be done inside the ship. Kate smiled.

"Remember the story I told you about the female sailor we had to rescue several times? I hope it doesn't turn out like this. Did you see RO anywhere? I thought he would be down there too and say good bye, after all he's the only one that actually knows her."

"No, I didn't. And honestly, I couldn't believe it when Sara told me that he had always talked a bit when sending her the NAVCOM warnings. Can't imagine RO to just talk to someone about personal things. That's kind of weird."

Someone came outside and cleared his throat. Both women turned. RO stood behind them, looking suspicious.

"What's weird? What where you talking about?" he asked.

Bomber blushed. "Ah, just girlie talk. Nothing you need to know."

Now it was Robert's turn to blush. He never knew what to say or do in situations like this. Why did people have to be so complicated? He shook his head in confusion.

"Anyway, why aren't you down there saying good bye to your friend?" Bomber wanted to know.

RO sighed. "As I already emphasised while talking with 2Dads, Miss River is not my friend. We just had sporadic radio contact when there are naval exercises in the region. As for my understanding this doesn't make us friends. And I did already say good bye when I met her on my way to the bridge this morning. I'm on duty so I sure won't go down there" - he pointed with his head to the stern - "to queue up in the line of admirers. As for duty"- he addressed the X - "coastwatch asked if we could assist. Their plane discovered wreckage in the water a few miles north-east of Willis Islet. I already talked to the weather station there, they said the storm hit them hard and that it could be some of the equipment they just got yesterday. It was stored on a barge anchored alongside the quay. The barge is gone now. Thankfully there was no personal on it. They did have some kind of party and didn't notice the storm nor barge getting lost as it seems. They discovered just an hour ago that it's gone. Party must have gone on some time, coastwatch said they couldn't reach them up till two hours ago."

RO made no attempt to hide the disapproval in his voice.

"Thank you Robert. I'll go and tell the CO. Please inform coastwatch and NAVCOM that we have a look as soon as Miss River left the ship."

The X turned and went inside. Before closing the door, she turned round again and said with a smile: "But tell them it could take some time as I'm last in the queue now."

Bomber burst out laughing, she couldn't help it. The radio officer's perplexed face was just too funny. RO was confused. What was that about now? Should he seriously...? Women, he said to himself. They were just a little bit more difficult to understand then other people.

"Miss River, NAVCOM wants me to thank you officially for your help. We are fortunate that we found our crew members that fast. I won't think of what could have happened if it wasn't for your help. The tender drifted some distance in the storm. It would have taken some time to find it."

Mike looked at her with his ice-blue eyes, wearing a serious expression now.

"If you need any help any time, please don't hesitate and contact us. You do have a really dangerous job out here." He couldn't tell her that he was kind of worried about her. That wouldn't be appropriate in front of the other seamen. And he knew that there actually was nothing to worry about but he just had this unsettling feeling... She was such a petite woman, all alone in the middle of nowhere and he knew what dangers lay out there.

Sara returned his gaze with her stunning smile.

"And again I have to thank you Commander Flynn. I sure will contact you if I need any help but I hope this won't be any time soon. Which doesn't meant I didn't appreciate your offer... I just don't want to contact you... er ...'cause that would mean... ." Sara started to stutter. If he just wouldn't look at her this way. It made her jumpy and she couldn't think straight any more. She cleared her throat.

"Ah, well you know what I meant. See, there is nothing more dangerous down there than curious sea turtles and malfunctioning coffee machines. Both I can handle." Well done, situation saved, she thought to herself.

"See how she smiles at the Boss? Wish she would look at me with that smile just one time." 2Dads grabbed Spider by his shoulder and they both looked over to the CO and Sara.

"Did she tell you anything about herself while you where alone on that tender? Where does she live? Did you get her number?"

Spider looked at his crew mate dumbfounded. "What do you think we did out there? Buffer and I were lucky we survived this time. We just could have drowned or died of thirst. Honestly, I did not think of asking her out when she turned up."

"I'm sorry, this was stupid. But I'm really interested. Maybe I should ask RO; he seems to know her." 2Dads shrugged. "He's denying it but I'm sure I can get him to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

The question made both Spider and 2Dads jump to attention.

"X, er... we just talked about..." 2Dads looked at Spider, pleading for help. Spider returned his gaze, mouthing "that's totally your problem".

"As much as I would like to hear the answer, which is no doubt interesting, I don't have the time to wait until it comes to your mind what to say. Aren't you two on duty? Just go back to your work now, show is over." Lieutenant McGregor went away without anything else, didn't give the young men time to recover and answer. What they couldn't see was the little smile that played on her lips. She had overheard most of the conversation. Bomber was right. It was always the same. She quickly crossed the space between the door and the group of sailors standing at the rail and addressed the CO.

"Sir, coastwatch asked for our assistance. I told RO to tell them we are on our way as soon as our guest has left. There is wreckage in the water north-east of Willis Islet. So far, there's no one reported missing so it just seems to be a problem for shipping."

Sara, wearing her wet suit again, standing with her flippers and diving goggles in hand, turned to Swain.

"So it's time to say good bye. It was nice meeting you. Wish I could have stayed longer."

She lowered her voice. "And thanks again for your help this morning. Keep an eye on Spider" she added, now as loud as before. "He doesn't look like the guy who leans back and lets others work but he really should be careful with his ribs. There's no way of telling if they aren't broken after all."

Swain nodded. "Sure I will. Be careful yourself, even sea turtles and coffee machines can harm you if you're not wary. CO was right, just contact us if you need help. It really wasn't a good idea to let one of you stay out here alone. You should have made teams." he added. Then he smiled. "I would have liked to see how you live down there."

Sara laughed. "You know 2Dads and Spider asked as well. And honestly I'm glad you can't come right now. I didn't had time to clean up the mess. But I can send you some pictures if you like, I do have Roberts email address. He can forward mail." She ignored the surprised faces, turned to Buffer and smirked.

"Don't do this again, me and my mermaid colleagues do have other work to do." In a more serious tone she added: "I hope your head is better now. You should better take it easy for the next few days as well. And don't be too angry with ourself. You know, even smart people do stupid things. I once tried to dive without a compass. I couldn't find it and didn't have the patients to look for it. I was lucky to find my way back to the boat that time. What happened can't be changed. I'm sure you won't get yourself in that situation again."

Sara then shook hands with both of them and the CO, gave Kate a hug, put on her diving goggles and made a big stride over the edge. With a splash, she entered the water, gave the okay-signal with her right arm forming an 'O' and soundlessly disappeared into the waves.

A few days later, RO was arguing with 2Dads, who had knocked on the door of the communications room.

"Come on RO, you could just show me what she wrote. What's the problem? She told me she would send some pictures and you could forward mail."

"Which is exactly what I did." RO interrupted.

"No it isn't. You printed them out and hung them on the noticeboard in the mess."

"So you saw the pictures. What's your problem, 2Dads? I need to work so please get to the point or get out." The radio officer was getting visibly irritated.

"My Problem?" 2Dads shouted now. "You do have a problem. I just wanted to see the mail she wrote and maybe answer her, thanking her for the pictures, asking what is going on down there."

"Miss River is fine, with lots of work to do, sends greetings to all of you and I have already thanked for the pictures. Satisfied now? You better be 'cause I sure won't give you any email address. That is personal information and if she wanted you to know, she would have told you." With this, he shut the door in the blonde seaman's face.

2Dads snorted. This was typical. RO could be a pain in the neck with his correctness. But he was going to get the information he wanted, 2Dads swore that he would to himself. He turned and went to see if he could find Spider. Together they could make a plan to trick RO. The blonde smirked. See who laughs last, Mr. Hypercorrect.

Inside the communications room, Robert sat down in his chair and ran his fingers absently through his hair. He hadn't told 2Dads the whole truth. Sara River had asked for his opinion as a communications expert. There were some readings that she had gotten but she couldn't make any sense of them and asked if he could help. He was fairly sure what it could be, she had described it very clearly but he wanted to hear it before he commented. That was what he had wrote to her. There was no answer 'till now. Which wasn't unusual. The scientists down there always had problems with their equipment. The research station was old-fashioned and under the constant threat of being shut down. She would send the file when she could. No need to be worried. That's why he hadn't told 2Dads. He didn't even inform the Boss. But there still was this little voice inside his head. Something could be wrong. If it was what he thought it could be, it shouldn't be there. And that was what kept nagging him.

hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun with writing it :-)