Peso
"Good news everyone! The captain said that we're close to the Octopod, and we can all start getting ready to board!" Melody called out cheerfully.
Peso was grateful for her announcement. He thought about how tense the trip had been as he stood up.
Between Rogers being convinced that Melody was only there to spy on him and Kodi trying to tell stories of the crew but constantly stopping midway through as though realizing what he was saying could potentially get other crew members in trouble, it had turned into a very awkward ride.
It was clear to Peso that neither Kodi nor the Professor had expected both Melody and Rogers to be accompanying them to the Octopod. Clearer still was the obvious unrest between the branches in the organization, but that wasn't too unusual he guessed. Even at the hospital he and other doctors had often felt that the board purposely tried to interfere with their work.
Thinking about it, Peso inwardly cringed at the idea of bringing a board member of any form into his workplace, no wonder the Professor has been mostly quiet. He glanced over at the older man who was quietly gathering his things.
The group headed up to the deck in silence. Peso searched the horizon for any type of structure but could see nothing. Peso's confusion must have shown on his face because Kodi cleared his throat from beside him and stated, "You might want to look down at the surface of the water."
Peso did, holding onto the railing and leaning over slightly. Scanning the surface of the water he could now see five glass domes just breaking the surface of the water. He couldn't believe the size of them; the central dome alone was at least the size of the supply ship.
"Bigger than you expected?" he heard Kodi ask, joy coming through clearly in the question.
"I didn't realize I was so readable," Peso replied.
"Nah," Kodi shook his head, "No one ever expects just how big the Octopod is. But trust me, it doesn't seem that big once you're inside," he paused then added, "Well I guess the pods and HQ do."
From where they were they could see a hatch open on the central dome. A figure climbed out onto the dome and began waving at the ship. A horn blew loudly from somewhere on the ship in response.
"Which idiot is that?" Rogers asked, sounding irritated, "They're still too low. The Octopod will end up taking on water."
"It's fine, Dr. Rogers," Professor Inkling said shooting Rogers a look, "The Octopod can take on a little water without worry."
"It's Kwazii," Kodi commented as they watched a small wave hit the dome and the man jumped to the other side of the dome. To Peso's surprise, he landed gracefully and had seemingly avoided the wave entirely.
"He's your Lieutenant Captain?" Peso asked still watching the man in question.
"Yea. Anyone else would have just let the wave hit them or fallen if they tried to jump on the roof like that." His voice took on a note of pride, "Kwazii, though has an insane sense of balance and he's a bit of a show-off" he finished laughing.
"Oh," Peso filed away that bit of information for later and continued watching the young man. According to his employee file, he was the current youngest member of the crew at only 21, but something about his file felt off to Peso. As the ship slowly came closer Peso could make out more of his features, his pale red-blonde hair standing out the most.
Kodi groaned, "This feels like it's taking forever!" he complained.
"It takes as long as it takes to do it properly and safely," Professor Inkling said sternly, then added in a lighter tone, "Though I am also feeling a bit impatient as well."
"I just feel bad that we had to stop everything because of me," Kodi explained softly.
"No one blames you. Accidents happen," the Professor patted the botanist gently on the shoulder. Kodi's heavy sigh was his only response.
The group watched the domes grow ever larger as the supply ship slowed to a stop beside them.
"Ahoy mateys!" Kwazii shouted from below.
Leaning far over the railing Kodi shouted back, "Ahoy! How's everything on board?" A wide smile was once again spread across his face.
"All's well on the Octopod!" Kwazii shouted back, a smile on his face as well.
The crew of the supply ship was already lowering a ramp down to the dome, though Peso couldn't see anything on the dome for them to attach it to. The Professor backed away from the railing, "We should head down so that we're out of the way of them bringing everything onto the Octopod." Peso nodded and he followed the Professor over to where they had lowered the ramp.
A crew member stood close by and was shouting down instructions to Kwazii. Peso guessed by how limited the instructions were that both men had worked together before. "Ya'll be able to go down in just a sec. Always a little hard to find good ground on a round surface," the man said shaking his head slightly.
"So, there isn't a way to secure it?" Peso question.
"Well, we normally wouldn't make a supply drop like this, but we've done it a couple few times before, it'll be ok as long as the ocean stays calm." The man told Peso.
"I guess this is where we say our goodbyes Dr. Rogers, Melody," the Professor held out his hand.
"No," Rogers said plainly, "I want to inspect the medical bay before I go so I will be coming aboard."
"And I have documents I have to pass onto the Captain." Melody declared quickly.
"Why do you need to inspect the med bay?" Kodi asked narrowing his eyes at the doctor.
"I need to make sure everything is in order and that Dr. Guin settles in properly." He replied coldly.
Peso didn't like being used as an obvious excuse and stepped between the two men. "Don't worry yourself, Rogers. I will have everything in order quickly, I have plans to move things around in the medical bay to suit myself anyway so it would be a waste of your time to run around holding everything to some ridiculous standard."
"You can't just go changing things how you want Dr. Guin. Every medical bay has a certain layout so that anyone can find what they need quickly." Rogers said crossing his arms.
"Well as you have already made a point of, I am on the shorter side, so no. We will no longer be using the top shelves in the med bay for anything important. If this is to be my new workplace, I'm going to fix it to suit my needs." Peso felt more than saw Kodi slip behind him and head down the ramp.
Peso took a small step closer to the ramp, blocking it from Rogers. He wasn't sure why the two men of the Octopod seemed to not want Rogers on board but he was sure they had their reasons. He made a mental note to ask one of them later.
"Dr. Guin I am just trying to do my job," Rogers argued.
"Do you normally personally inspect the medical centers of the organization's subs? I would have assumed that the medical leads onboard did self-inspections. If it is the latter, then I believe you are trying to do my job."
Rogers crossed his arms, "I'm beginning to feel as though Chief Attenburg lied to me."
Peso reached up and set a hand on Roger's shoulder, "Don't feel too embarrassed, we've all been there. It's simply a learning opportunity." He let his hand drop back down to his side. He hoped that would piss Rogers off enough to make him want to just be down with this situation and stay on the supply ship.
"But," he added after a pause, "if you truly feel I'm too incompetent to do a simple inspection…" he trailed off then, "But then I wouldn't understand why you were so desperate to hire me." Peso finished shrugging his shoulders.
The two stared at each other until finally, Rogers put up his hands, "Fine. Have things your way Dr. Guin. With luck, you won't need me."
"I don't rely on luck anymore Rogers." Peso turned from the small group and headed down the ramp.
He didn't think that he would need any help with the crew. Rogers had given him plenty of warnings, but you can never tell what a person is like until you meet them for yourself, so Peso had hopes that the crew wasn't as bad as the other doctors had made them out to be. Even a small part of him could understand why Dr. Rogers worried about the crew as much as he did.
So distracted Peso was in his thoughts he gave a start when a voice called out, "You're the new Doctor?" He looked up to see Kwazii at the end of the ramp with a hand out towards him.
Golden hazel eyes ringed with a deep green stared at him, a deep scar running across the left and down onto the man's cheek. The pale red blonde of his hair contrasted against his dark olive skin.
"Are you ok? Did Dr. Rogers give you a hard time?" Kwazii gave a disgusted grunt, "He's always picking on our crew it feels like."
"No," Peso said quickly, embarrassed to be so caught off guard by someone's appearance, he out of everyone should know better than to stare "Rogers is nothing that I can't handle." Peso stepped off the ramp onto the glass dome carefully, "I apologize I shouldn't have been stari-" he felt his foot slip from beneath him, but before he ever fell, he felt arms around him.
"Careful mate," Kwazii said holding them both steady as another wave rocked the domed surface, "It's not as easy as it looks to walk up here. It takes a bit of practice." He let go as the water calmed back down.
"I see," Peso mumbled, then louder, "Thank you, and again I'm sorry. I'm Peso Guin."
"Kwazii Ruckham," the man replied, "Welcome to the crew."
⸶ ⸱ ⸸ ⸱ ⸷
Kodi
"Well as you have already made a point of, I am on the shorter side, so no. We will no longer be using the top shelves in the med bay for anything important. If this is to be my new workplace, I'm going to fix it to suit my needs."
Kodi pushed passed behind Dr. Guin and made his way quickly down the ramp. if the man was going to argue with Dr. Rogers, he would use the chance to get to the Octopod first and warn Hallie. He wasn't sure why Dr. Rogers was suddenly so interested in the med bay, but his gut told him part of the reason was the apology to Halie. If you can count an email as an apology.
"Hey Matey! We missed y- "
"Not now Kwazii," seeing the confused expression on the younger man's face he quickly apologized, "Sorry, it's – Rogers wants to inspect the med bay for some reason. Where Hallie?"
"She's in the med bay, moving things to make room for the delivery. The Professor sent us a message saying we were getting more than expected."
"Damn it," Kodi swore under his breath, he knew that meant it was a mess down there, "Thanks Kwazii."
"Do you need help? Getting down the ladder with your arm?"
"I'll manage. If Dr. Rogers comes down, try to stall him."
Kodi started awkwardly down the ladder, using his entire arm to wrap around one side of the ladder for support. He hurried as quickly as he could, not bothering to wait till he reached the bottom before announcing loudly, "I think we have a problem!" to everyone in the HQ below.
"What do you mean?" Captain Barnacles called up to him heading towards the ladder.
"Dr. Rogers is on his way for an inspection," he told the others sliding down the last few rungs of the ladder.
"Right now? Of what?" the Captain asked.
"Of the medical bay, and the new Doc is currently stalling him – I think." He added after a moment of thought.
"What do you mean you think?" Dashi asked looking up from where she was mopping up a small water puddle.
"I mean I don't know him that well and I can't figure an entire person out in under two hours. He didn't really talk that much on the way here." Kodi said defensively heading towards the ladder that led to the lower levels of the ship. "Hallie!" He yelled down the chute.
"Really, you're just going to scream?" Dashi snapped.
"Yeah, my arm hurts. This might end up being an issue," Kodi said holding up his cast.
From below a woman's voice called up, "Kodi? That was you, right?"
"Yes! I need you up here," he called back frantically.
He backed up as he heard her climbing up the ladder, "What's wrong are you ok?' she asked worried as she climbed into the HQ.
"I'm fine," he told her as he reached out his unbroken arm to help her up, "But Dr. Rogers wants to inspect the med bay."
She frowned, "I see, well he's not going to like it. It's a bit of a mess."
"That's what Kwazii said," he rubbed his forehead, "and I don't know if it's just me being paranoid or what, but I seriously have a bad feeling about this, and I don't know what the new Doc is doing."
"Calm down, it's probably not what you think it is. He's probably just annoyed that Dr. Guin found a workaround to get the supplies he wanted. Dr. Rogers is probably just trying to do a whole 'I'm your boss don't forget it' kind of thing." Hallie waved a hand in the air nonchalantly.
"That's too many probablys for me to be comfortable." He put his hands up, "I don't want to sound accusing but why didn't you put everything back as you were going through everything?"
Hallie crossed her arms, "That does sound accusing, but Dr. Guin told me not to worry about getting everything back in its place perfectly because we were going to have to rotate it all again once we got our new supplies.
"Also, I was putting things back as I went. I don't just dump everything on the floor and leave it. Most of the things that have been left out of the cabinets are expired or odds and ends that don't even make sense being in the med bay and should probably be moved to storage or thrown away. I was waiting for Dr. Guin's opinion. But still thank you for the warning I guess."
Kodi's shoulders slumped, he hadn't intended to upset her, "Halie I just don't trust Dr. Rogers and he just seems to be in a bad mood and I feel like he's going to take it out on you. I wasn't trying to blame you or make you feel bad." He tried explaining.
"So, you throw this new doctor under the bus," Dashi cut in suddenly.
"Dashi! That's horrible! I can't do that!" Hallie said, clearly appalled at the suggestion.
"Why? It wouldn't even be a lie! He's the one who told you not to worry about putting everything back." Dashi pointed out, "He's your department's head, so he's one of your bosses, and you were just doing what you were told. Let him take the fall for his own actions."
"But –" Hallie stopped. Kodi could tell she was trying to think of a valid argument.
"I think she's right, Hallie," he told her, "I don't want you to end up in trouble over something he told you to do. Just tell Dr. Rogers you were doing what you were told."
"But…I," she stepped around Kodi and looked over to the Captain, "What do you think? I just don't want him to hate me from day one."
Captain Barnacles was silent for a moment, "I think we don't know much about this man yet. I'm sure he didn't mean to cause any problems, but I don't think you should have to be punished for his mistakes." He spoke carefully.
"Captain Barnacles and Dashi are right. This was his decision, it's not throwing him under the bus, and I don't think that you should feel guilty over this." Shellington added.
"You said he was stalling Dr. Rogers?" Hallie asked, turning back to face Kodi.
"I said I think he might have been," Kodi answered. "But if the med bay is a mess it doesn't matter how long he stalls."
"I know," she said, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder and running her fingers through it. He knew she did this when she felt uncomfortable. "I was just thinking." She said finally.
Kodi reached out for her with his good hand, "About what?"
She slipped out of his grasp, turning to face the ladder, "Let Dr. Rogers do his inspection," she said decisively, "I can handle him."
"Wow, what a brilliant decision," Dashi said sarcastically.
A sudden thump from above drew all their attention upward towards the glass dome.
"Did someone just fall?" Dashi asked, "Wait is it the new doctor?" she scoffed.
"Well, it looks like Kwazii caught him, so yes, but no?" Kodi shrugged.
"I guess no more stalling, whatever happens, happens," Hallie said setting her shoulders.
"If Dr. Rogers gets out of line I'll handle it," the Captain declared. Kodi wasn't sure how much the captain would be able to help in this situation.