Peso
With Kwazii helping to hold him steady Peso made it to the hatch without further embarrassing himself.
"Careful going down the ladder, got wet from a wave earlier," Kwazii commented as he let go of Peso's arm.
"Right, I'll try to be more careful. Thank you, Lieutenant Ruckham." Peso said stepping onto the ladder. Kwazii looked like he wanted to say something more, but they were both distracted by the voice of the Professor.
"Be careful Melody. I wouldn't want you getting hurt. Reynolds wouldn't forgive me." The Professor said from behind him.
"I'll head down now," Peso said quickly, in case the Lieutenant was needed to help the Professor or Melody.
Peso climbed down the ladder. He didn't have to look around to know that multiple people were watching him. He let out a quiet sigh and put more focus into moving each hand under the other. The water coating the ladder in seemingly random spots wasn't helping either.
As he climbed down the ladder the top-level of the submarine slowly came into view. Taking up the entire front half, or what he assumed was the front half, was an enormous built-in control console that curved with the shape of sub. Switches, keyboards, and buttons of all kinds filled the top of the console.
Scattered along its length were seven chairs each mounted to the floor by a single pole. Three of the chairs that were towards that center were spaced closer together than the other four. The console in front of those three chairs seemed to be the most complicated area of the whole thing from Peso's viewpoint.
Extending up from the console was one continuous curved monitor screen. It was only slightly taller than a normal monitor but ran the full length of the console. Again, he noticed that most of what was on the screen was centered on those three chairs.
More of the room came into view as he continued down. Soon he was able to see a large steering column mounted onto a raised platform in the center of the room. A metal railing ran along the front half of the platform sectioning off the steering wheel from the rest of the room.
Finally, with feet firmly on the ground, he turned to face his impromptu audience. His eyes quickly scanned the room, the top level was impressive, but nothing was more impressive than the view the dome gave. Nothing but endless blue surrounded the dome, the view only interrupted by the arms and pods of the Octopod itself.
The back half of the top level was simpler, at the right end of the command console was an almost restaurant like booth type seat and table combo. They appeared to also be mounted to the floor of the sub. A small potted Venus fly trap was set in the middle of the table.
On the opposite side of the command console was a small cabinet of drawers that held a printer on the top of it. Next to the cabinet was a table with a coffee maker on it. A basket of creamers and sugars were set to the side of it. Under the table was another smaller cabinet of drawers with coffee mugs sitting on its top.
Farther behind the steering and on the opposite side of the room from the command console, was a small area where there was another ladder that led down to the level below. It was sectioned off with the same type of railing that was around the area of the steering column. In this lower area was Kodi standing next to a woman with dark brown hair.
Taking his eyes from the room and instead to the people in it, he looked toward the man who was closest to the ladder. The man was tall with snow-white hair and pale skin, he was dressed plainly in dark blue slacks and a lighter shade of blue button-up shirt. Clipped onto the man belt were many different devices. "Captain Barnacles?" Peso guessed since no one had yet to offer names.
"Ah, yes, of course, I am Captain Barnacles. Dr. Guin, I'm assuming. Are you alright?" the man pointed upwards at the dome.
"Oh," Peso realized he was asking if he had hurt himself tripping on the dome, "I'm fine. Just a little stumble."
The Captain nodded, "Walking on the dome takes some time. Let me introduce you to what I have of the crew here. Over there is Dr. Oliver Shellington," he gestured past the steering column to where a tall man was standing with a mop in hand.
Peso guessed that he was easily over six feet tall, his light brown skin was exposed by his rolled sleeves, dark brown hair fell just slightly over his round eyeglass frames.
"Then we have our navigator Dashi Daughtry," the woman next to Shellington raised a hand into the air, her fingertips just barely brushing against her tightly coiled, black chin-length hair before dropping back down to her side.
Surprisingly to Peso, she was wearing a blue and white striped dress. He would have guessed that the submarine would have been too cold for a dress, that might still be the case he noted since she had paired the dress with a large pink cardigan.
Before the Captain was able to introduce the other woman in the room Kwazii's voice called from above, "We got a skirt!"
Peso looked up confused and saw Melody leaning over the hatch looking down. Just as he realized what the Lieutenant had meant, the woman who had yet to be introduced spoke up, "Yeah, it's supposed to be a warning so others can be respectful and not look up."
"Yes, I realize that now," Peso said turning to the woman. Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her lighter skin tone stood out against the dark purple of her blouse.
"Hallie Bakewell," she said stepping closer to him, "You're my new boss as everyone was just pointing out. And you already know Kodi," she pointed over her shoulder, "he slipped down here to warn me about Dr. Rogers."
"I wondered about that," Peso's eyes flicked to Kodi then back to Hallie, "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Bakewell. I look forward to working with you."
"Oh, you don't have to call me Doctor," she told him, waving a hand dismissively, "No one does. I mean unless you really want to," she added, "it is kind of nice to hear. Oh! What about Dr. Rogers is he coming down last or something?"
"Oh no," Melody's voice came from behind Peso. Turning he saw that she had just reached the bottom, "Dr. Guin pissed him off, so now he's stewing on the supply ship." She let out a small giggle, "It's horrible, but it's so funny when he gets mad, he gets so red."
"I didn't do anything to him," Peso argued halfhearted, "I simply questioned if he was using his time wisely."
"Sure, you were. I definitely believe you," she patted Peso on the arm as she walked by heading towards the Captain, "I have a whole stack of papers for you Captain." She said reaching into her bag and pulling out a thick folder, "I doubt you'll like them."
The Captain let out a long sigh, "They always want something from me." He commented shaking his head.
"You are quite popular, even if it is for all the wrong reasons." Melody said sweetly, "You don't have to worry about getting them done today –"
"They can be faxed in. I know the procedure." The Captain finished for her.
Kwazii was the next to come down the ladder, announcing as he made his way down, "They're going to start with the supply drop, so we gotta spread out and give them some room." Peso stepped aside closer to where the Captain was standing.
"How do they bring all the boxes down a ladder?" Peso asked, he had a rolling image of each man carrying down a box in one arm and struggling on the ladder. It didn't seem the safest method to him.
"Nets, ropes and lots of shouting." Kwazii answered laughing, "It's always fun this way, but don't worry too much they're professionals. They wouldn't be breaking any of your things."
"I was more concerned for their safety," Peso said, "and maybe for my plant as well." He admitted.
The look of joy on the younger man's face caught him by surprise, "You've got a plant?" Kwazii asked, spinning on his heel and heading for the table he grabbed the small Venus flytrap on it. "This is my Buddy!" He said cheerfully, "You're also lucky that we have someone great with plants! Now you don't have to worry about it getting sick."
"That's not something I've ever worried about for this plant," Peso responded, guessing that Kwazii's meaning of getting sick must be wilting or dying.
"Yeah, the type that Dr. Guin's got you can basically ignore for a whole month, and it's fine. Honestly, if it died, I would be more concerned for the safety of our crew." Kodi chimed in.
"Hey Dr., speaking of your plant, you want that in your personal room or down in the med bay?" The first of the supply crew down the ladder asked.
"It's fine to go to my room," Peso told the man, he might choose to move it later but for now it would be one of the bigger comforts from home.
"Alright I can do that for you," the man replied smiling.
Peso was confused by the man's tone until Melody leaned in and whispered, "They all like you, Dr. Rogers was really rude to them."
"Does anyone like that man?" Peso whispered back.
"He wasn't always so hard to deal with. They've made a lot of changes he doesn't agree with and it's honestly a whole thing that's been happening for awhile," she told him shaking he head, "I kind of get it but at the same time he's just being so difficult about it all."
Peso nodded, he could understand how troubles at work could boil over into someone's personal life. That didn't make him like the man anymore though.
"Not to interrupt your conversation, Dr. Guin," Hallie started, "but did you want to head down to the med bay? That way we can start unloading as soon as they bring the boxes. It just goes faster that way." She explained.
"Of course," He quickly looked towards the Captain, "unless you need me up here for some reason?"
"No, Dr. Guin you are fine to go."
"Yay! Ok, follow me!" Hallie whirled around and started down the ladder barely waiting for him. The two quickly made their way down the ladder to the next level.
Turning away from the ladder Peso was greeted by a long, straight, bright orange hallway. On the left side of the hallway about halfway down was a large opening. Across from the opening was a smaller hallway and on either side of the smaller hallway were two doors.
"Quick tour, that is the entrance to the kitchen and dining room," Hallie told him pointing to the large opening on the left, "that first door leads to the med bay, and the second door down is Lab." She looked over her shoulder at him, "I promise I will give a much better tour once we get all the supplies unpacked."
"I can deal with that," Peso replied as he followed her into the med bay, which thankfully was painted a muted shade of teal. Inside were two beds for patients, two desks, one in front of the beds and another in the corner straight across from the door. Counters and cabinets ran along the same wall as the door and the wall to the left of the door. To the far right of the room was another door.
"That door goes to the med bay bathroom and from the bathroom, you can get to our supply room. It's not big or pretty but it does its job so that's all that matters." She looked over her shoulder at him and he nodded his understanding. "The desk towards the back is mine, I like being able to see who is coming in," she explained, "so, this one will be yours." She walked over to the desk in front of the beds and tapped it. "I think that's everything, for now, oh wait you'll need a box cutter."
She held up a finger and walked over to her desk, rummaging around in the top drawer she told him, "We can't keep any boxes on the Octopod because there's not much space. So, you have to open, unpack everything, then break down the box and pass it back to whoever dropped it off. It makes things go faster."
"I hadn't even thought about what happens to trash onboard," Peso said taking the box cutter from her.
"We all do our best to keep trash to a minimum. Unfortunately, our department is the most wasteful, consistently," she sighed, "but if you ever hear someone complaining about it just let them know you'll start reusing your gloves. That normally shuts them up." She laughed.
Peso laughed as well; he was starting to consider himself lucky to be working with Hallie. She seemed the easy-going type. "I will do my best to remember that Dr. Bakewell."
"I was serious earlier. No one calls me that and you don't have to either, I would actually prefer you to call me Hallie." She paused and looked at him expectantly. When he said nothing, she continued, "And, maybe if you call me by my first name I could also do the same for you."
"Do you want to call me by my first name?"
"Everyone is pretty much on a first-name basis, except like with the Captain or the Professor and well, I mean, everyone just calls Shellington, Shellington," she paused, "but the rest of us just go by our names. Or nicknames. Unless you would prefer to go by Dr. Guin. I can totally be okay with that as well."
Peso smiled at her, "You can call me Peso. I'm fine with that."
Before Hallie could respond a member of the supply crew entered with the first box. Hallie rushed to take it from him. She set it onto the bed and cut the tape, "How was the trip out here Doug?"
The man's face lit up, "I didn't think you'd remember me. It was mostly okay, except for that other doctor, but hey that got taken care of… a couple of the guys wanted to change their bets, told them too bad."
"Change what bets?" Peso asked curiously.
"Oh, uh," Doug rubbed the back of his head, "it's not important. I should go grab another box. I'll be back."
Peso looked to Hallie, who had her lips pressed firmly together and looked like she was trying to hold in a laugh. "What did I say?"
Hallie took a deep breath in and out, "Doug was part of the crew that helped pack up our last doctor. The whole crew might be the same, I don't know. But," she looked directly at him, "I bet they were placing bets on how long before they pack you up."
"Why would they do that? I've been contracted for a year, so that's how long I'll be here." Peso said, he was a little surprised, but maybe he was wrong to be?
"You really think you'll last a whole year?" Doug said from the doorway. This time Peso took the box from him.
"I don't see why I wouldn't." Peso declared; he had every intention to see this whole year through.
"Well," Doug paused as he took the broken-down box from Hallie, "the longest any doctor has lasted recently is five months. Except for Hallie, of course." He added winking at Hallie.
"They can't all be as perfect as me," she cut in, laughing.
"You really think you'll last longer?" the man asked Peso.
"I can guarantee I'll be here an entire year," Peso stated.
Doug smirked at him, "Willing to put money on that?"
"Doug! What's the holdup?" a voice shouted from the hallway.
"Hold on to that thought Dr." the man slipped out the door, leaving the two medics.
"What does this crew do to doctors?" Peso asked, turning to face Hallie. "I can't imagine any situation where I would just walk out of my job because of a patient. So how are you all managing to go through doctors?"
Hallie shrugged, "It never seems to just be one thing. We're –" she started but Doug interrupted with the arrival of another box. Hallie took it from him then Peso passed off his broken-down box.
"So, about that bet Dr. Guin. You gonna put your money where your mouth is?" the man asked.
"Wouldn't it be a little unfair?" Peso questioned, an eyebrow raised, "I could just pick whatever date I want. The outcome would be fixed the second I set down money."
"Alright," Doug set down the cardboard and pulled out his phone. He tapped at the screen for a few seconds before continuing, "since you're so confident, I'll put you down for a whole year. No one else has even guessed close to that date. Don't worry about the bet. You make it you can have the whole pot."
"What's the farthest out anyone has bet?" Hallie asked curiosity getting the better of her.
"Three months and two weeks."
Peso fiddled with the box cutter in his hands, trying to ignore the doubt creeping into his mind. Knowing there was a group actively rooting for his failure made it hard. He leaned against the counter, choosing to ignore the rest of the conversation. It didn't matter what they said anyway, he knew what his job was, and he wasn't planning on being chased away so easily.
"Peso?" Hallie's voice was soft, "just forget about their whole stupid bets. It's dumb and –"
Peso cut her off, "you were saying it's more than just one thing?"
"Well yeah, some just didn't mesh well with our crew, others didn't adjust well from going to a team of doctors to just themselves."
"It's not just me though, you're here." He pointed out.
"Some people don't think I count. I think it's the lack of medical school honestly. I mean you heard what Dr. Rogers said." She shrugged her shoulders dismissively and continued pulling supplies from the box.
"I don't get that. From your files I've seen you're an RNP, and you also have a doctorate in nursing. You're a doctor, if you were on land, you would most likely be working at a private practice. You would be the primary care provider for dozens of patients. The only thing separating you and me is the amount of debt. If I were a surgeon there would be a bit more differences but there's no OR on this sub."
"The IORCE gets most of its medical staff straight from schools though, med students can do their residency on the Levy even, they have a whole program for it. But most of my schooling was specialized online and some in person stuff. So yeah, I really do think it's all the years of schooling and debt."
Peso crossed his arms, "They're going to get a horrible shock once they get on land. PCPs are the real workforce behind patients. Doctors who work in hospitals like me are only here for when things go really wrong, or when treatment gets very specialized. You would get all the colds, flus, and 'does this look infected to you."
A small smile slid onto Hallie's face, "Thanks," she said softly, then cleared her throat and asked, "but you're an internal medicine specialist so you probably get a lot of that too."
"Not lately," Peso said with a sigh, "the medical field hasn't quite bounced back to what it was, so just like everywhere else we're short in staff. Chief Attenburg told me he needed someone he could depend on, so I've mostly just been bouncing back and forth between the ER and trauma center for the last year or so. Occasionally I'll get a call for help from upstairs, but I've mostly been jumping from mess to mess."
"Oh damn! Then you've seen some shit?" Doug said from the doorway, another box in hand.
"I don't know what falls under your definition of 'some shit', but probably," Peso told him as he took the box.
"Gunshot wounds?" the man asked.
"Yes."
"Compound fractures?" Hallie joined in.
"Almost every day."
"Stabbings?" Doug asked while making a stabbing motion.
"Every now and again."
"Shark bites?" Hallie asked.
"No, I was off that day."
"Maybe I should let people change their bets," Doug mused rubbing his chin. "Don't say anything else exciting, I gotta go grab more boxes."
"Is it wrong that I don't consider those exciting anymore?" Peso asked, looking over his shoulder at Hallie.
"A little bit maybe. It must be hard to work in an emergency room though," she commented.
"Sometimes. I get to see the worst of worst then do my best to get the patient stable enough for the OR, well if the case is bad enough. It doesn't always go that way. Some cases that come in are easy, they just need an antibiotic or some other medication." he paused a moment, "others not so much. But I guess I won't be dealing with any of that for a while."
Hallie started breaking down the box she had just finished unpacking, "Did you ever have someone come in and you were just like why?"
"Almost every day," Peso answered with a short laugh, "you would be disappointed by how many stories revolve around impressing the opposite gender." He shook his head.
"I mean, I'm surrounded by mostly guys who do stupid stuff on the regular so I think I can imagine. Though I don't think they're trying to impress any of us women. For example, Kodi grew a bunch of different hot peppers one year…now anything hotter than a jalapeño is banned from the ship."
Peso burst out laughing, "What?"
"At least in fresh pepper form. Tunip was able to talk the Captain down somewhat." She looked at him, "I expected you to be more serious." She confessed.
"Am I not acting serious? Because I am seriously interested in this pepper eating story."
"No," she laughed, "not about that. Just in general, I guess I was channeling a bit of my inner Barret and expecting you to be really stuck up and strict. I wasn't expecting to be able to find some sort of common ground. It's just really nice actually like I can breathe and not worry. Even more so since you are technically my boss. I'm just relieved, is what I'm trying to say."
Peso thought for a moment, wondering how honest he should be, "The feeling is mutual. I was worried about you as well, Rogers doesn't give the best impression of your crew. I was worried that I would constantly be at odds with everyone on board, so yes. I agree, this is nice." He smiled at Hallie, he truly did feel grateful to be working with her.
They continued unpacking, having to work quickly to match pace with the supply crew. Peso was wondering how many more they had to go when Hallie suddenly exclaimed after opening a box.
"What?" Peso asked looking up from the box he was breaking down.
Hallie was digging through the box she had just opened and started laughing, she grabbed a box from inside the box and held it up to Peso, "Is this just a huge box of condoms? Like this whole box?"
"And other contraceptives. Why? Are they not allowed?" Peso asked, "Originally I hadn't included them, but then I had a friend who brought up that if the med bay didn't have them in stock, it probably needed them, so they were a very last-minute decision…is it unnecessary?" He was silently cursing Alec for convincing him to add them.
Hallie continued going through the box pulling everything out and setting them on a patient for now – by now most of the counter space and desk space was taken up. "No, probably not unnecessary. I guess people just usually buy their own if they want to use them." She laughed again, "we've never had them as a medical supply before so…this is a lot, and quite the variety too."
She held up one box, read it, "Do these actually glow?"
Peso shrugged, "I – I don't know personally. You are free to try them though."
Hallie looked at the box again, hummed, then began pulling more out of the box, "We're going to have to create a separate cabinet just for all this."
"How ever you want to set it up we can," Peso told her, "You know this space and the crew better than me so whatever you think would be most efficient and easiest for everyone to access, we'll do it that way."
"Oh no, no, no," Hallie said quickly, "no one gets to know about this yet. Like they can in like a few weeks but…like I think this hilarious, and I also get why you would think its necessary, but," she paused for a moment, thinking, "I can just see it going so badly. If you were just, like to announce that you brought these. Like it would just come off the wrong way. Please tell me you get what I'm saying so I can stop."
"Your worried it will give the crew the wrong impression of me? Or that I have the wrong impression of the crew already? Something like that?" Peso questioned.
"Yeah, something like that." Hallie agreed, "Like I don't think it's a bad idea, not really. But like first impression wise, I don't think it's the best."
"Alright," Peso nodded, "Like I said you know the crew better. We can hold on telling everyone that there will be free contraceptives in the med bay now, if you think that is best."
"That would probably be for the best," Hallie said as she dumped the last of the box onto the bed. She quickly sorted the rest of the box's contents into the piles she had started, including the small pile off to the side where she had set the questioned box from earlier.
The rest of the time they spent in the med bay went quickly, and soon enough the supply crew and Melody were back on the ship and heading home. Now they were left to organize everything they had unboxed and discussing how best to set everything up. Peso had been right in his assumption of 'these walls look too tall' he had formed when looking at pictures of the med bay.
"Tweak designed everything with herself in mind," Hallie explained, "She's tall for a woman and didn't want to have to duck everywhere she went. I know Grover appreciates it too."
"I can understand that," Peso said tapping his fingers on the counter, "But it still doesn't help the fact that I can only reach two shelves."
"We can borrow a step stool from the kitchen…I think they have one they leave in the pantry all the time, or maybe it's in the freezer. We can ask at lunch though. Tunip would definitely understand, she's shorter than you."
"Really? That will be refreshing." Peso commented with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"To be taller than someone?" Hallie asked holding back a laugh.
"It feels like rarely happens."
Hallie checked her watch, "Lunch isn't that far away if you want to head over to the kitchen and meet Tunip and Min now. We could help them set up, you know butter them up into giving us one of their step stools." She clicked her tongue.
"I thought you said she would understand." Peso reminded her, raising an eyebrow.
"It never hurts to help while asking a favor." Hallie pointed out, smirking.
"You know her better, so I'll just have to trust you." He said as he followed her out of the med bay.