Chapter II
A/N: As I said with the first chapter this is the secondary story. But I am glad that I finally got this chapter done. Like in my other story, William Murdoch is a pain in the ass to write! Don't ask me why. I probably complain about writing him as much as I actually write him. Thanks go out to cowgirlbookworm for her patience and help! Hope you like what happens in this chapter! SSD
While having access to a ghost that had been on the Titanic was useful to Olivia in many ways (there were more than a few things in some of her books that were incorrect. She'd written the corrections on sticky notes and put them in the relevant spots) there were also problems.
Thankfully Murdoch was occupied with reading his old friends book. Which meant Olivia had the time to move books pertaining to the Californian, the disputed nature of his death, and how White Star had treated the family members of the dead. He did not need to know about any of that just yet. She had found a box, placed the books in there, and packed it with salt for good measure. It was hidden in her uncle's room as well.
She was also reaming people out to keep their mouths shut on certain unnamed subjects. Olivia had just finished reaming out Yuri in very bad Russian, "I won't be held responsible for what he does to your stuff if he hears you talking about that!" Orion was sitting at her side.
Her uncle sidled up to her saying, "That narrows the identity of the ghost down to four. Though I'm pretty sure the ghost isn't Captain Smith, that gives me three potential candidates. I don't suppose you can give me any more hints as to who our spectral visitor is?"
She grinned, "Aww, and I was going to make it a big surprise for you!"
With her uncle's look Olivia said, "I'll make you a deal: You find the necklace, I'll tell you who the ghost is. Deal?" She held out her hand.
Uncle Brock took it replying, "I'll hold you to that. In the meantime, I'm going to try and figure it out on my own."
"Good luck," she called to his retreating back.
Soon enough, Olivia felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Groaning she asked, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to hear you make that devil's bargain. Perhaps I should start haunting your uncle, see if he has your ability as well," Will drawled.
"Please leave my uncle alone. He's not the complete bastard you think he is," she begged. Orion whined.
"An example of said positive behavior would be nice," Will asked leaning against a wall.
"He was there for my twin brother and I when very few others were. He was the one who encouraged my interest in the Titanic, which led my here, where I am talking to you. Mull that over in your brain pan, you'd be lonely with only lobsters for company!"
Olivia learned something new. Ghosts had an equivalent of blushing. It was a more intense force ghost glow around their faces.
"I was merely asking a question. The way he's been on board ship does not exactly match up with what you've just told me," her ghostly companion replied.
"He's not at his most relaxed right now. There's a lot of people pressuring him, so he's rather stressed. Your antics aren't helping either," she narrowed her eyes at the specter. "It's driving the both of us to drink."
"You have no idea what I would do for a drink right now. I'd kill for a warm, flat beer," Will moaned.
"Beer is meant to be cold. We've been drinking the bad vodka," Olivia groaned at the memory of the hangover.
"I am not sure there is such a thing as good vodka. Is there a bottle of whiskey that someone won't mind going missing," he asked.
"I thought you couldn't drink," she inquired.
"If I could just look at it, may I'll remember what it tasted like," Will persisted.
An idea popped into her mind. Olivia went to her wardrobe and began rummaging around in it. She felt Will's eyes boring into her all the while.
"Ahah, there it is! My bottle of ill gotten gains!" She couldn't help but smile at the memory of the acquisition of the bottle in her hands.
"Macallan? That wasn't cheap even when I was alive," Will's surprise was clear.
"Octavian and I liberated a bottle each from our father's liquor cabinet after our grandfather's Charles's funeral. We saw it as the beginning of his compensation to us for siding with Tristan and covering up that he driving too fast for conditions. Mine is from 1912, Octavian's is from 1945." Olivia placed it on her desk.
"So you stole from your father and brought the bottle along on the grave rob- I mean research expedition," Will drawled.
"I can put it back you know, if you want to go off on me about that again," she made to put the bottle away again.
"No need to get hasty. If it's anything like it was back when in my day, I'm sure it's a fine drink. Why haven't you opened it yet," Will noticed upon further examination.
"I'll open it when I finish my doctoral thesis. And not a moment sooner," she replied.
"And when will you accomplish that," her ghostly officer asked.
"It'll likely take me a couple more years at the rate I'm going," she answered.
"So we'll be each other's company for the foreseeable future. That reminds me, I wanted to ask you something again," Will started.
Olivia knew what he was going to bug her about. He'd been after her about this for days.
"You know quite a bit about the Titanic's crew, correct?" Will was starting with flattery this time.
"The most out of anyone on board.
"What about their families and what happened to them after the sinking, he begged.
"I promise I won't bother you about it again, but I need to know: Ada, my family, my friends. What happened to them after the sinking?" Good God, he was using puppy eyes.
Turning her back to him she murmured, "Will I can't."
Appearing in front of her again (he was getting far too good at that), "Is it that you don't know or won't tell me?"
"I won't tell you." Olivia felt awkward when she said it, but there was nothing else she could do. Giving Will all that information at once? That was a burden no one should have to carry. "But I can show you how to find out on your own." Orion tilted his head.
"How do I go about doing that," the ghost asked.
"I'm going to introduce you to a magnificent modern toy known as the computer. I will show you how to use it, but I strongly suggest that you do your research at night so no one gets spooked."
As she and Will made their way toward the computer area Olivia thought, I have a bad feeling about this!
Will prowled towards the computer area. The machines Olivia warned him could be finicky at times and to be patient. She primarily used them for typing.
Very few people other than crew were at awake at the moment, no one was in here. He would be able to use the device for as long as he liked, once it "booted up" as Olivia had termed it.
Once he was able, Will didn't know what or who to start with. He decided to start off easy. Charles would be a good start.
Will skimmed through what he already knew. Charles had not calmed down one bit after the Titanic at all. After the First World War, he kept bust, even though he quit White Star Line. The line had blackballed all of the surviving officers, preventing them from advancing, no matter their skill.
Tamping down his anger, he read onward.
He then got to information on the Second World War which was only a little over 20 years after the end of the first one! Will was going to ask Olivia questions about that one!
Despite his advancing age, Charles got involved in the second act. On his yacht, which was only rated for 30 people, he managed to fit 120 British soldiers from Dunkirk. Roger and a Sea Scout (another thing to ask Olivia about) had been with him.
Slightly further along, Will found out that his friend's devil's luck didn't pass along to his children. His youngest son died at the beginning of the war, Roger just weeks before it's end. He could barely contain the burst of energy working up his arms as he remembered playing with Roger.
Will then saw a tab that said "Officer Suicides". Having a feeling that he was going to regret learning this, Will clicked on it anyway. Almost immediately upon reading it, he began to seethe in rage and the computer began to spark.
It seemed that it was a commonly held belief that about the manner in which he die on April 15th, 1912 was that he ate his pistol!
I died in the water. I drowned, and they think this!
Charles had defended him, but due to their close friendship was not believed.
This has to be part of what Olivia did not want to tell me!
Knowing that it was not going to get any better, Will looked up Ada.
As he found the information on his beloved wife, Will could not help but linger at the picture of her. Looking at the image of his Lovely Aid for the first time in over 8 decades… She was still as beautiful as the first time he laid eyes up on her.
The lines of words became a blur as rage, sadness, and emptiness filled him. He'd hoped that his loved ones had been able to find shreds of happiness in the aftermath of of the disaster.
What point was there in hoping anyway?
Will had closed his eyes to try and get a handle on his emotions, only to open them to see a smoking wreck of a computer.
Olivia is going to have to do some fast talking tomorrow!
Brock stalked towards his niece's room. Upon his arrival, he banged on the door, shouting, "Wake up! You've got some serious explaining to do!"
Hearing clomping to the door and some panting from Orion, she opened the door a crack mumbling, "How, I just woke up?"
"Get dressed and come to the computer lab after Orion has done his business. It's a mess down there," Brock ordered his half asleep niece.
About 15 minutes later, he saw Olivia with Orion at her side. She was wearing sweatpants and a "Fork 'em Devils" t-shirt.
"Let's see what's worth waking me up when it's barely light out," his niece yawned.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of the still smoking, sparking wreckage of a computer. Orion let out a whine and his ears went back.
"What's going to be the official explanation for this," she whispered now entirely awake.
"Carelessness with liquids. I don't suppose you can enlighten me as to the true yet unofficial reason," Brock had a feeling he was going to want to have a drink after this.
"I uh, showed the ghost how to use a computer. He wanted to know answers to questions I wouldn't give him so…" Olivia trailed off.
"You do realize how hard it is to replace a computer in middle of the damn North Atlantic? This costs thousands of dollars to replace and you let the ghost just have at them," Brock pinched his nose thinking of how he was going to explain all of this.
"I could help pay for it. I'll speak to my fath-" she started. Brock shook his head calming down finally.
"You do not have to do that. Everything is insured and workplace accident covers quite a bit, especially out here. Just don't let your spectral friend near the modeling computers, you might just wind up joining him as a ghost if he destroys those," he joked.
"I'll go hunt him down to try and calm him. He had to learn some hard truths. I'll also try to learn how on earth he destroyed the computer. After I shower and get dressed for the rest of the day. I apologize for the mess," Olivia nodded as she left.
"Good luck" he called out.
His human Olivia had brushed his fur till there was no excess fur left. She then whispered to him, "Now I need you to be an extra good boy today. You need to find someone and be extra cute. Remember our… friend that only the two of us can see? He's the one we need to look for. Now go!"
Orion started walking around, eager to please his human. He put his nose to the air, searching for the telltale scent.
The human who smelled strange and couldn't pet him (but clearly wanted to) Orion just could not figure out. He seemed to annoy Olivia most of the time, except when she was busy asking him questions.
The sadness that he began to scent gave Orion something to go on. He tracked it towards the front of the ship. Unfortunately the human was somewhere he couldn't get to but still should be able to hear him.
There was only one thing to do. Orion began barking and walking back and forth, wagging his tail the whole time.
Soon enough the human showed up snarling, "Confound it all, I'm not in the mood for your constant barking now shoo!"
Orion kept on wagging his tail. "I said shoo!"
Once the glowing (?) human finally got that he wasn't going anywhere, "Fine, you can stay, just stop that infernal, bloody barking!"
He smiled and walked over to lay at the human's feet. The musty smell was in full force.
"Well, you certainly got what you wanted. Did Olivia send you to find me," the weird smelling human asked.
Orion smiled.
"What would you do without her? You protect her, you look after her. That's your job, and I am sure you perform that job to perfection," the man said.
Orion nodded.
"I was supposed to do that for my lovely Ade. She didn't want me to go to the Titanic. She wanted me to stay on the Olympic. I didn't listen to her and look what happened," he yelled and a burst of energy lit off from his hands.
"Easy on the ectoplasmic bursts, you don't know where they'll land," his human had dived to the floor.
"A what burst," the man asked.
"The thing you did with your hands. It's probably how you destroyed the computer, if I had to hazard a guess," his human replied as she got up from the floor.
"I suppose you didn't tell me to protect my feelings," he drawled.
"That and partly because I preferred you take your anger out on the computer and not me," his human was leaning against a wall.
"You know I can't touch you."
"I'm in no hurry to find out what ectoplasm does to the living," she shuddered.
"Ectoplasm? Is that what I did to the computer," the weird smell became stronger.
"No, it's what you're made of if science fiction is to be believed," his human Olivia replied.
"What's science fiction," the weird human asked.
"Think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Olivia replied, "And there's plenty more I can show you about ghosts."
"Are there books about what I learned," the ghost sounded testy.
"Yes," his human sounded wary.
"I assume you have some in your library," the odd human asked.
"You would assume correctly."
"Might I vent my anger on them," he begged.
"There are two of them I would not be overly upset with you destroying. But how to have you destroy them…"
Two pairs of eyes, blue and brown looked at him. Orion did not like how either of them were looking at him.
It was then that he decided to bolt down the hallway.
Things had been relatively calm since the incident with the computer a couple of days ago. Brock had explained that the surge protector had been faulty and that had been the cause of the computer going kaput to the investors.
No mention of the ghost at all.
Olivia was interacting with the crew members more. And she'd gone to the kitchens to get a jar of peanut butter. She occasionally ate it straight out of the jar.
Brock soon happened upon Orion. The black and white husky dog was licking, gnawing, and chewing on one of Olivia's books which was slathered in peanut butter.
Panicking he hissed, "Orion come here boy. I don't want you to get into trouble!"
"It's alright Uncle Brock. I gave it to him," Olivia drawled.
Spinning around, he saw his niece, drinking a Diet Doctor Pepper, in a collapsible chair, with another empty one next to her.
"Why did you give him one of your books to chew on," Brock asked as he plopped into the chair next to her. It felt like he passed through something cold.
"You aren't cold are you," he asked.
"No, but the ghost was sitting there. Now I have to listen to him bitch about you sitting through him," Olivia groaned pinching her nose muttering, "Shut up Scotty!"
"Back to the topic at hand, why did you give him the book," Brock redirected the conversation.
"The book has far too many errors in it for my liking. And it's not like he's eating it," his niece replied.
"Did the ghost suggest it," he inquired.
"He would have preferred me shooting it, but there was nothing to be had. This was a compromise," Olivia took a drink.
"Compromise!" he blurted.
"Yes, I thought it was quite reasonable," Olivia sounded so calm.
Please don't let her be going nuts!
A/N 2: And that's the chapter. Had quite a bit of fun with it! Looking forward to seeing what you all think! SSD!