Here comes Trouble!

Fifty Four

The eleventh deck was mostly dark. As they walked up the last step, Tori flashed her light around, peering down the hallway towards where their wiring closet was. On one end of the floor, the far end, electricians were working inside a panel, sparks flying as they welded something into place. " is going to be fun."

"It's creepy in here." The shorter tech commented.

"Yeah, it is." Tori agreed. "Okay, let's get this thing mounted and plugged in." She led the way down the hall, her powerful light bobbing up and down with her steps and outlining the closed, silent cabin doors. The scent had changed up here, from old mildew to new carpeting over old mildew, interspersed with fresh paint.

It was an improvement, but at the back of her tongue, Tori could still taste the age and decay, and she suspected it would stay that way until some decent air conditioning could dry the air out a little. At least this high up, most of the diesel stench had dissipated.

As she walked, Tori tried to imagine sailing on the ship to some place, her world bounded by the walls and the deep blue sea around them. It was hard; even though she'd spent time out on the Dixie, this was something else entirely.

This would be more like cruising in a slightly seedy, somewhat rundown hotel with a new coat of paint on it. Tori had decided she would be interested in taking a cruise with Jade, but not on something like this. She'd found a sailboat cruise company in a magazine the other day and had already started planning. "Okay, watch it." She carefully stepped over a roll of carpet remnants left in the dark hallway.

"Urf." The tech in front grunted.

"Want to put it down for a minute?" Tori asked.

"No, we're good."

Men. Tori sighed, though she suspected Jade would have given the same answer. She continued down the hall, becoming more and more aware of the darkness around them as they left the semi-lit stairwell behind. There were creaks all around as well, and a soft groaning somewhere as the ship shifted in it's berth.

They reached the cross corridor that held their wiring closet, and she turned into it, the partially opened door moving inward as she pushed.

"Ayah!"

Tori nearly hit her head on the roof as she jumped, the yell from inside the dark closet scaring her silly. "Yow!" She yelped, backing into the techs, who dropped the switch on the deck with a solid thump. Since they, and the hundred pound item were behind her, she was trapped near the door and she teetered for balance as she heard a clatter behind it. "Holy.."

The door yanked open and a large figure appeared. Faced with no retreat, Tori flashed her light at it, her free hand lifting into an automatic defensive posture in front of her. Jade's warning rang in her mind and she felt a moment of panic, before her light illuminated the man's t-shirt and she recognized the name of their own cable vendor. "Oh."

"Jesus, lady!" The man said. "You scared the crap out of me!" He glared at Tori. "I coulda been on a ladder in there, y'know!"

"Sorry." Tori collected herself. "We're just trying to get this equipment in." She explained. "They told us the cabling was ready."

The man snorted. "Yeah, sure." He brushed by them. "Next time, watch it!"

Tori peered after him, watching his back retreat into the darkness. "Hm." She shook her head and tapped her flashlight against her palm. "Remind me to talk to his boss."

The techs wiped sweating palms on their jeans and took hold of the switch again. "Sounded like we woke him up." The taller of them commented. "Not like we were sneaking down the hall, you know?"

"Exactly." Tori turned and shoved the door open, entering the wiring closet and standing aside to let the men enter after her. If the hallway was stuffy, the closet was stifling, and held a hint of plastic and copper as well as old sweat and the faint scent of beer.

Not entirely pleasant. "Let's see what we've got here." Tori motioned for them to block the door open with the switch as she studied the interior. Most of the small space was taken up by two tall racks, bolted to the deck and reaching to the ceiling. In one, panels full of network jacks winked in her flashlight beam. The other was empty, waiting for their equipment. "This is such fun to do in the dark." Tori sighed. "Jesus.. okay, let me get over here." She went around the corner of the rack and tried to get into an angle that would allow her to put the light to good use. "Why don't you.. ow!"

"Ma'am?" Carlos leaned towards her anxiously.

Tori flexed her hand, which she injudiciously had put into the sharp angle of the rack. A sting alerted her, and she turned the flashlight on her palm, which was now stained with blood. "Ugh." The slice was shallow, but long, like a two inch paper cut. "Figures. Watch out for this cross support guys, it's sharp."

"Ow." Carlos murmured sympathetically. "Bet that hurts."

It did. "Nah." Tori stepped up to her macha. "Heck, if I could get a tattoo, what's this little old thing?"

The two techs stopped in the act of moving the switch into place. " You got a tattoo?" Carlos inquired. "Wow. I went with my cousin when he got his, and he screamed like a…um.." He gave Tori a sheepish look. "Girl."'

"That's okay. So did I." Tori smiled at them. "What do you think, here?" She indicated a spot in the rack.

"Yeah, that would be good." The techs picked up the switch and started to angle it into the rack. "Damn this thing weighs a ton."

Tori watched them struggling. "Hang on." She wormed her way into the rack itself and knelt. "Here, set it on my knee, and then you can swivel it." She instructed, patting the denim covered surface. "Otherwise you don't have enough space to really..yeah." She grunted a little as the weight of the device came down on her leg.

"Got it.. Carlos, push it in further." The other tech urged. "Yeah.. no, wait."

Tori edged back against the back of the rack as the switch nearly pinned her in place. Her elbow knocked against something, and she heard the rattle of glass behind her, accompanied by the scent of stale beer. "Ah." She felt sweat running down her body, and her nose tickled from the dust. "How's it going guys?"

"Gotta get the rack nuts in." Carlos muttered. "One's in.. wait.. oh, shit. I dropped it."

"I got another one, here." His collegue handed it over. "Hurry up before we smush Ms. Vega, and get our asses kicked into the bay."

Tori smiled, as she took hold of the device with both hands and tried to keep it steady. It was a dead weight, and it was making her leg ache. She tried not to think about the ten others they had to install and leaned her head against the cool steel, blinking salty sweat from her eyes.

"Okay, got it… get that into place and I'll screw it in." Carlos said. "You okay, ma'am?"

"Just fine. Thanks." Tori assured him. She felt the weight come off her knee as the switch was screwed into place. "Now I'm doing much better. You got it?"

"Got it." Carlos assured her. "You can come out of there now, ma'am."

Tori eased up off her knees, then realized with the switch bolted into place, she was trapped inside the rack. "Oh, Jesus." She sighed. "Hang on.. I need to climb up over the top of this thing." Her phone beeped and she paused in the middle of getting a foothold on the side of the rack to open it.

I sent some help. They there yet?

Tori looked around the cramped room. No, sweetie, and there's no room in here for them. I'm trapped inside a rack myself at the moment.

The phone stuttered a response almost instantly. WHAT?

"Uh oh." Tori put the phone away and concentrated on escaping from her metal prison. She got a foot up on the support brace that had cut her and eased herself up and over the switch, catching sight of the two techs caught between wanting to help her and not wanting to be insubordinate. "I could use a hand, guys. If I fall on my head on the floor Jade's not gonna like it."

The techs jumped forward, unblocking the door and allowing it to swing shut as they reached for Tori's hand. Her flashlight slipped from her sweaty fingers and dropped on the floor, turning itself off and putting them all in total darkness.

Everyone froze. "Um.. "

Tori sighed. "Find it." She eased back into the rack and pulled her phone out, turning on the flashlight feature. And using the meager light to give them as much help as possible. "This would be funny if it wasn't just so ridiculous."

More sweat rolled down her face as she waited for the flashlight to be found. "This is the glamorous part of our jobs, huh?"

Carlos laughed hesitantly. "Yes, ma'am…I think I got it." He said. "Oh, I think it broke."

Of course. Tori rested her head against the rack. "Please try to fix it. If I have to call for help to get out of here, I'm never going to hear the end of it."

Her cell phone rang at that moment, and she opened it, not even having to glance at the caller id. "Hi."

"You're stuck in a rack?"

"In the dark, in a closet, with a broken flashlight. But we're fixing it." Tori informed her partner. "We'll be fine. Really."

"I'm sending my father to get you."

Tori sighed. "Jade…" She protested. "We got the switch installed. We're fine. Honestly. Right guys?"

"Right.' The two chorused obediently. "Hey." Carlos yelped suddenly. "Something just crawled on me!"

Tori's eyes opened wide. "Uh.."

"Still okay?" Jade's voice sounded wry. "I heard that. Better hope it's only a roach."

"Urk." Tori instinctively lifted her hand to the neck of her shirt, and twisted it a little, tightening the fabric around her throat in case something fell on her head and thought a journey inside her clothing would be a fun idea. "Don't suppose dad has a nice big flashlight, huh?"

A loud bang sounded overhead, and the walls shook a little, producing a rattle of somethings falling onto the floor.

"What was that?" Jade asked.

"I don't know." Tori started looking for another way out, feeling around cautiously. "Hon, can I get back to you?"

"Okay. Hang tight." Jade said, briskly. "Bye."

Tori clipped the phone to her belt. "Any luck?" She asked. "How about getting the door open?"

"Ma'am, I'm trying." The other tech said unhappily. "It's locked from the outside. There's no lock on this knob." He rattled the door, obviously yanking on it. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Tori asked.

"That noise."

They all listened, and Tori now could hear a sound of water burbling. "Water." She concluded. "This is a ship. That can't be good in any sense." She put the thought of bugs aside and started climbing over the switch again, by feel alone. "Watch out!"

"Ma'am! What are you doing!" Carlos asked nervously. "Please be careful, you can… oh! Oh!"

Tori felt her balance slipping and she made a grab for the railing, the sweat on her hands making her lose her grip. "Yeow!" She swung over the top of the switch and slammed against it, knocking herself sideways and tumbling over the support rail. "Look out!"

"Ma'am! Tori!" Carlos made a grab for her, but he wasn't even close, and Tori landed hard on her side knocking him back against the wall. "Oh!"

"Oof." Tori felt the breath go out of her and she only barely kept her head from smacking the floor. The sound of water got louder, and she could suddenly smell something unpleasant over the scent of carpet and mildew and new electronics. "Uh oh."

"Uh." The sound of scrambling. "I think we better get off the floor."

Tori sighed. "Can I go back to my ivory tower now?" She shoved herself up off the ground just as the stench of sewage flooded the closet and all they could do was hold their noses and hope for the best.

"Well, ma'am." Carlos sighed. "It hardly can't get worse than this, can it?"

If Tori could have found his mouth in the dark, she would have covered it. As it was, she just crossed her fingers, and hoped she had a spare pair of boots somewhere in the car.

Jade popped the back door open and headed through it,powering past the guard without so much as a glance in his direction. Shepushed her sunglasses further up her nose as the glare hit her eyes, feeling the sharp blast of heat as the sun poured over her.

In the shimmering heat, the old ship looked scroungier than ever. But Jade saw a crew of men gathering around her hull, armed with five gallon jugs of marine paint, and she suspected the old hull was about to take on new colors.

She strode past the forklifts, hopping onto the gangway and making her way up into the ship, trying not to limp too badly and hoping no one dropped anything significant on her mostly unprotected feet.

It wasn't smart to go into a construction area with beach sandals on, but Tori needed something, and that made the risk irrelevant.

Looking right and left as she entered the storage hold, she headed for the stairs slipping between two moving pallets just in time to keep herself from being smashed flat.

"Hey!" The man moving the pallet yelled. "Watch out, you crazy woman!"

Jade lifted a bare arm and waved at him, as she started up the steps. The heat already was oppressive, and she was glad she'd picked a tank top to wear with her jeans as she felt the hot air against her men coming down squeezed past her on the steps, muttering under their breaths, shaking their heads.

"We ain't never gonna get this done. That guy down therefucked us up big time."

"I'm gonna kick his ass." The other man replied. "I don't care how big he is."

Jade paused as she turned the corner landing, and then she shrugged and kept on going, figuring if the big guy he was talking about was the one she was related to, he could more than take care of himself. Sherounded the turn and continued on up, taking the steps at a rhythmic trot.

Her foot hurt, but she put that in the back of her mind and concentrated on avoiding broken corners on the steps that might send her sprawling headlong It got darker as she went up, until she arrived on the opendeck, where the doors were thrown open to get some kind of breeze inside the stifling interior.

Abruptly, Jade felt slightly horrified that she'd sent Toriin here with the team. What had she been thinking? It was a hell hole in here!Aggravated, she increased her pace across the deck, moving inside and heading for the double wide stairwell that lead to the upper decks.

People were coming down the stairs, rubbing their eyes and complaining. Jade became aware of taint in the air, a stench that made her nose wrinkle in reaction. Sewage, but worse, old sewage that smelled like lots of dead things had reconstituted themselves and were now invading the inside of the ship. "Oh, gross."

Stifling the urge to hold her nose, Jade started up the steps, blinking a little as the fumes made her eyes water. She rounded the first landing and kept moving upward, the dimness and the smell getting worse every second.

"Gag." Jade muttered, getting a sympathetic look from two female crew members who were hurrying in the other direction. "What died?" Sheasked, pausing to call after them.

"Some stupid person put something down one of the toilets."The woman nearest to her stopped and explained. "It blew up the pipes. I tell you, these people who work on this ship are stupider than most of our passengers ever were."

Well acquainted with cranky marine heads, Jade winced."Great." She turned and started up the steps again, hoping silently it hadn't been one of her people that had done it. None of them were stupid, but sometimes when you were under stress, you did things out of habit. That Included something as mundane as crumpling up something and tossing into the toilet, forgetting the difference between a water gravity flush system and the vacuum tubes most often uses on ships and planes.

You stop up water pressure, and you probably overflow yourtoilet. Annoying and messy, but not really catastrophic. Jade took another flight and tugged her flashlight from it's holder on her belt, turning it on. Stop up an air pressure pipe, and what resulted was a blow out, usually in the middle of a wall somewhere, where the term 'shit hitting the fan' came to a new, pungent, and occasionally dangerous meaning.

"Ah, the romance of the sea." Jade heard voices a level higher than she presently was, and she redoubled her speed again, powering up onto the landing of the eleventh deck in time to hear someone blaspheme his mother in virulent Spanish.

She rounded the corner of the stairwell to find a dark hallway full of machinery, men, and a growing sludge advancing across the newcarpet. Some of the men she recognized as hers. "All right folks." She intoned briskly. "What's going on here?"

Half the crowd turned, obviously relieved to see her. " !' The closest said. "They Won't let us go any further."

Two of the ship personnel were blocking the passage, shoving the others back impatiently. "Go back." The taller one of the two said. "Youcannot go here. Something is broken."

Jade edged through her staff, most of them backing to allowher through as much as they could in the crowded space. "Some of our people are in that hallway." She told the crewman. "We need to go get them."

"There is a broken pipe." The crewman shook his head. "It's Dangerous. They must purge the system first."

"Let's get outta here." One of the other tradesmen said, ina disgusted tone. "It stinks, and I don't give a crap if this stupid job gets finished or not." He turned and pushed his way out, followed by two others.

Jade heard a hammering down the hall. "Okay, look."

"You must leave, now." The crewman told her brusquely.

The hammering got louder. Jade stepped up to the crewman and tipped her head down slightly, glaring at him. "Mister, I am going down that hallway. You can move aside, or I Can go through you. Your choice."

The man stared at her. "What?"

Jade took a step even closer. "Move." She barked. "Now!"

"You cannot.."

Jade shoved him without hesitation, keeping her motions shortand hard. The man stumbled back and looked at her in shock, then exchanged looks with his companion and got out of the way.

"You are crazy! " The crewman said. "But if you want to gothere and get hurt? Fine! Go! It will be your fault!"

Jade strode past him, with the techs in tow. As they moved down the hall, the stench grew, and the sound of hissing, escaping air got louder and louder. "Tori!"

"Over there, ma'am!" One of the techs pointed. "That's the door."

Two others approached it with alacrity. "We'll knock it down, Ms. West. Just give us a minute."

Jade paused. "Tor! Get back!" She pointed to the door with utter authority, and shone her flashlight on it. "You two, get over there, keep an eye on that pipe."

"Jade!" Tori's voice came through the partition.

"Yeah!" Jade yelled back. "Hang on!"

Footsteps sounded coming towards them down the hall. "Alright you people. Back off! This is a closed area!" An authoritative voice said. They turned to see a uniformed officer heading their way. "Move it!"

"Kiss my ass." Jade challenged him. "I get my people out of here, we'll leave. Not before then, I don't care how much crap is going to come out of that pipe."

"You listen to me!" The man came up to them. "I'm the staff captain of this vessel!"

"And I'm the chief information officer of this company." Jadegrowled right back. "I could buy you and this whole piece of crap shrimp boat for petty cash so take your stripes and your attitude and beat it, pinhead!"She looked at the two techs. "Do it!"

"You cannot.."

"Watch me!" Jade shot back.

"One… two.. " The two techs turned their shoulders to the door.

The staff captain clenched his fists and glared. Jade glared right back at him. "You.." He started.

"Am in charge here." Jade completed the sentence.

"Jade Giana West, you better not be out there in that damned sewage with your foot!" Tori yelled at the top of her voice,nearly making the door metal rattle.

The techs all looked at Jade as a momentary silence fell.

Jade cleared her throat. "Do it." She instructed the techs."Before I get my ass in real trouble."

The techs charged the door without any further hesitation,slamming into the panel and crashing it inward. They stumbled inside as it opened easier than they expected, and there was a jumble of moving bodies in two flashlight streams.

A low rumble started up to their right, as the tech stumbled out of the closet and into the hallway, Tori squished among them.

"You must get out of here. Now." The officer's voice was now more urgent than angry. "Please!"

Jade grabbed hold of Tori's arm, and she ducked from behind a tall, sweating body. "Hey." She checked her over, best as she was able in the very dim light. " You alright?"

"Hey! Jade! Are you crazy!" Tori started tugging at her."You gotta get out of here before you get sick!"

"Let's all get out of here." Jade pointed down the hall."C'mon!"

The rumble grew abruptly into a roar, and out of pure instinct Jade grabbed Tori and slammed her against the wall just as a blast of hot, fetid air and worse came down the passage, splatting full into the staff captain and knocking him back against the far bulkhead.

Then the hiss disappeared, and silence descended.

"Oh, Jesu." One of the techs nearly threw up.

"Oh. Gross." Tori muttered. "This is about the most disgusting…"

"Yeah." Jade inched towards the light, staying as far away from the sodden staff captain as she could. "It sure is."

"Ug, ug, ug." Tori stifled a gag. "Jade, I'm gonna lose it."

Jaws clamped shut, Jade merely nodded, and nudged her faster."Walk." She got out from between clenched teeth. Ahead of them, the hallway was blocked suddenly by a lot of bodies, men in jumpsuits yelling in a Nordic language.

A bell started to ring. The crowd of jumpsuited men shoved past them, ignoring everything in their haste to get down the corridor,carrying tool boxes and thick hoses. "What happened to you?" One asked the staff captain. "Ah, you got shot,eh? Should be used to it."

"Oooohh.." Tori uttered under her breath. "Get me outta here…" She squeezed past the men and they got to the stairs, where the air was no cleaner. "Jade, I'm losing it."

"Hang on.. " Jade got an arm around her, ignoring her own rebelling stomach. "Over here." She moved to the far end of the stairs,bypassing the men running up past them, all in ship jumpsuits. "Down, down down.. baby."

"How's your foot? Did you get it in that..um.."

"I have no idea." Jade steered her down another flight of steps. "Let's wait till we get outside.. hey." The sharp scent of blood reached her nose. "Did you get hurt?"

Tori held up a clenched fist. "Cut. Nothing major."

They reached the main deck landing and headed for the doors,getting outside just as all the power inside was cut, and the ship was plunged into darkness behind them.

"Ugh." Tori went right to the railing and hung over it,willing a breeze to come up from the southwest and not from behind her. Her stomach was twisting in knots, the smell from inside the ship still in her lungs, and clinging to her clothing.

She closed her to her she heard a wretch as her partner indeed lost her breakfast. One deep breath then another and another wretch. Tori fought hard to swallow back she needed to take care of Jade. She two two cleansing breaths anand opened her eyes. To see a seemingly composed Jade. her flushed face is the only indication that she had even thrown up.

"Let me see." Jade took her hand and gently opened it,studying the slice on her palm. "Ouch."

It wasn't working. "Jade." Tori whispered. "I'm going to throw up."

"Aim down." Jade Circles her wrist with gentle fingers and pressed against the inside of it.

Tori opened one eye, to see the waters of Government Cutfar below her. "Down?"

"Down."

Tori watched the wavelets ripple past the ship, bumping into the hull. A bird flew lazily past, and then unexpectedly, plunged into the water after a fish.

She took a breath, then a second, filled with clean salty air, and felt the nausea subside. She released a breath, and looked over atJade. "I think I'm okay." She took another few lungfuls of air, then glanced down at the deck, to study her partner's exposed feet.

The sandals were covered, almost up to the edge of the bottom, with an oily brown guck, but Jade's tanned skin was unmarked. Tori'sshoulders relaxed a little. "You escaped the crap monster."

Jade looked down. "Oh. Yeah." She murmured. "So I did." Sheturned Tori around and examined her carefully. "So did you." She noted."Except..er.." She glanced at a long, dark stain down the side of one leg.

"New rack crud." Tori sighed. "I had to climb out of it."

Jade frowned.

"In the dark, in a room with roaches flying all over it, andpoop flowing on the floor. Jade, that was not covered in my infrastructure classes." Tori leaned against the railing, exhausted. "But at least we got the damn thing in."

Jade turned and leaned as well, looking back at the were pouring out of it and heading for the upper gangway off,shaking their heads, while inside, bells were still ringing and alarms going off. "One down." She agreed with a sigh. "Seven to go."

It wasn't a very auspicious start.

Tori left her boots outside the terminal, and in fact,crossed through it an out the front door heading for the Volvo. She suspected she remembered they had a pair of spare clothing in the back, and she fully intended on changing into it to get rid of the sewer scent she was convinced still clung to her shirt.

As she crossed to the parking lot, a small pickup swerved towards her and pulled up alongside. "Hi." Ceci waved, tipping her sunglasses down. "How's it going?"

Tori walked over and leaned against the doorjamb. "Youreally want to know?"

Her mother in law grimaced. "Jim called me. Said they got thrown out of the boat while some repairs were on. I brought him some lunch." She said. "Tough day?"

"Ugh. Yes." Tori agreed. "We're so behind schedule now, and we don't know when they're going to let us back on the ship."

Ceci leaned on the seat back. "Tori, can I ask you a question?"

Hm. "Sure."

"You.. and Jade. You're corporate officers."

"Yes." Tori nodded.

"Maybe it's different here in San Francisco, but where I come from,corporate officers don't do what you're doing." Ceci said bluntly. "They manage."

"I know."

"So?"

Tori let her hands rest on the window frame, feeling the heat of the metal sting her cut hand. "Usually we do manage." She admitted."Usually, someone else does this, but this job… Alastair asked Jade to handle it personally."

"Ah."

"There's a lot behind it." Tori explained. "So here we are."

"We."

Tori smiled.

Ceci reached over and patted her hand. "Good luck." She said. "How's Jade doing?"

How was Jade doing? Tori thought back to the last sight she'd had of her partner, pacing back and forth in the terminal unable to do anything constructive. "She's a little freaked because of the wait."

The older woman chuckled wryly. "That's nothing new." She advised Tori. "She absolutely positively hates waiting for anything."

Hm. True, and that reminded Tori. "I know.. in fact, maybelunch is a good idea. I'll get her out of here for an hour or so until they reopen the ship." She tapped the window. "Thanks for the idea!"

Ceci pushed her sunglasses down and waved, waiting for Tori To step back before she continued driving out of the parking lot.

Lunch. Tori continued over to the Volvo and keyed the lock open. She pulled the back door latch and peered inside, snagging her gym bag and tugging it over. "Let's see what we've got here." She unzipped it and rummaged through it's contents.

"Okay, good." A pair of jeans landed on the seat, shortly followed by a shirt. She tended to keep changes of clothing for after work, as did Jade, since neither really wanted to get back into business clothing after working out.

Tori reviewed her options, and fingered the shirt, which was a sleeveless muscle T. "Hm. Not quite the image I was looking to project…"She peered at the jeans. "And these are reeeally old ones… but at least it's clean." She pushed the jeans and shirt back in the bag, which already held her sneakers. Then she dug in the back of the car to see if she had anything forJade stowed away anywhere.

"Hm." She pulled out a few neatly folded bits of shorts and a sports bra. "Much as I'd personally love her to change into this, I don't think it's going to work." Tori regretfully put the items back, and shouldered her gym bag. Maybe, she considered, they could grab something at the mall when they went for lunch.

With that cheerful thought, she closed and locked the door and headed back for the terminal. Halfway back, she paused to let traffic goby, appreciating the intense light of the sun and the stiff ocean breeze. Beinglocked in the dark, with the bugs and the stench in that place had been hellacious, and for a moment she'd gained an understanding of Jade's aversion to closed in places.

It had gotten a little freaky in there, with her techspanicking a little, and the sound of those pipes so close by. Hearing Dads Voice had been…

She ran her hands through her hair. She really wasn't the type of person who freaked out easily, Tori knew. She'd handled some intense situations in the past few years, from being locked up in a damn psycho ward,to being trapped inside a burning hospital, to jumping in the raging ocean.

She was cool with it. But being in a dark room with roaches and crap? Tori shuddered. Thathad freaked her out completely, and just when she'd been at the point where she'd started to tear at the door with her fingernails, there had been Dad's Voice.

Instant no-freak.

Sweetest sound in the world. Tori ran her fingers through her hair again, and shifted her shoulders, feeling the sun warm her the fact it had made her nuts to think of Jade standing out there in sewage, and that reminded her to get their shoes rinsed off.

Preferably by a firehose spouting industrial disinfectant.

Tori proceeded across the road and trotted up the steps to the terminal. She entered the building and headed right to the restrooms,ducking inside the women's side not surprised to find it empty. One thing about being in IT – you generally didn't have to wait in the bathroom if you were female.

Certainly, it was better than it was in the past, but still,she and Jade were in the vast minority in the building at the moment.

Tori entered the handicapped stall and hung her workout bag on the hook, shedding her jeans and shirt and tossing them over the door. Briefly, she wished she could shower as well, but after a cautious sniff at the skin on her arm, decided a change would have to be good enough.

Rooting in the bag, she found fresh underclothes as well,and traded off, stuffing the others into a side pocket. "Okay." She removed the jeans from her bag and pulled them on, leaving the buttons unbuttoned. She then pulled the shirt over her head and tucked it in, fastening the jeans over it.

The waistband was a little loose, which surprised her a bit. She dug in the bag, but she hadn't stuck a belt in there. "Hm.." She turned and faced the mirror, checking the image with critical eyes. Shetouched her cheek, deciding her face looked a little thinner than it had been also. Was it the stress? Toriknew they hadn't been exercising more than usual, so probably it was thetension she'd been under lately.

Oh well. She met her own eyes, seeing a gravely wry twinkle there. "Guess I'll have to have an extra milkshake for lunch then. " Shestuffed her other clothes into the bag and grabbed her sneakers, unlocking the door to the stall and heading back out.

Emerging into the hall, she spotted Jade back at her podium,pecking at her laptop keyboard with one hand while leaning her head on the other. Jade's head lifted as she approached, and the blue eyes turned her way, looking her up and down as a rakish grin appeared.

Tori set the bag down and leaned on the counter to put her sneakers on. "Something wrong?"

"With you? Noo." Jade said. "But we've got a big problem,Tor."

Leaving the laces of the first sneaker untied, Toristraightened. "What's up?"

"They're not going to let anyone back on board for at least twenty four hours." Jade told her. "They've got the EPA in there now. Needs Disinfecting before they'll clear us to go back in."

"But.. wait." Tori leaned on the counter. "I thought it was only that one deck?"

"Bacteria." Jade replied succinctly. "Got in the air system,or so they're afraid of."

Tori closed her eyes. "Oh god." She stifled a reflex cough."Can we get our lungs fumigated?"

Jade patted her hand. "I think we're okay." She said. "You Feel better now?"

Tori frowned. "Well, yeah, but what are we going to do,Jade? We didn't have enough time to install and test as it was.. we lose a whole day… Jesus."

"I know." Her partner acknowledged. "Pulling more people won't help."

"No." Tori exhaled heavily.

The outer door slammed, and they both turned to see PeterQuest enter, spot them, and head in their direction with angry strides.

"Hm." Tori took the opportunity to put her other sneakercon, tying the laces as Quest arrived.

"West, I just got out of a meeting with the inspectors." Quest said. "Can you explain to me why they informed me the blockage that caused this entire mess was some of your equipment?"

Jade and Tori exchanged glances. "My equipment?" Jade pointed at her own chest. "Quest, look around you. My gear's bigger than a breadbox. How the hell could it have caused a clog anywhere?"

Quest did, indeed, look around. Then he looked back at Jade."I don't know, they just said it was IT stuff. There's a meeting in ten minutes outside with the ship's officers. I want you to be there, and explain what the hell's going on."

"Do you.. um.. have the IT stuff?" Tori interjected. "Might Be hard to explain otherwise."

"We have it." Quest said, grimly. "The EPA will be there to show what it was, and you'd better be too. If it turns out this is your fault, you're gonna pay." Heturned and walked off, half turning as he did to point at Jade. "Big time."

Tori stared at his back, and then turned her attention toJade. "Now what?" She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Jade, I swear, this whole damn job is cursed."

Jade rubbed her temples, giving her head a tiny shake. "Guess you better call John." Shesighed. "Since I know it's not our gear, the only thing left is his."

Tori blew out a breath in a sputter. "So much for lunch."She pulled out her cell phone. "Damn it."

Jade got up. "Can I treat you to a Jamaican patty and a bottle of guava juice?" She asked. "Roach coach just pulled up outside."

Tori paused. "Hang on, John." She covered the mic. "Jade,don't say roach and lunch in the same sentence to me for the next month, okay?"

Jade patted her on the shoulder, and limped off towards the door.

Damn it.