Within the Water

by Kelly Fallows

  ‘Ben?’ she asked uncertainly when he didn’t respond to her pronouncement.

  ‘It’ll be fine, Zhe. Whatever is happening here is a good thing.’ He tried to reassure her, not really knowing what to say to the idea that she might be someone else. Was that even possible? he asked himself.

  ‘Will it?’

  ‘Yes,’ he told her firmly. ‘You’re free and you’re becoming an extraordinary woman. Whatever else all this means, it’s what freedom is, and we’re going to embrace it and protect it.’ His conviction was giving her hope.

  ‘Now, though, we have a more immediate problem…’

  ‘What?’ she asked full of concern.

  He grinned at her, saying, ‘You’re going to have to change.’

  She huffed at him, but still couldn’t hide a grin. ‘You know you seem to have an unhealthy obsession with what I wear,’ she told him, referring back to the last time this issue came up.

  ‘That’s because you’re very distracting,’ he teased her, before pushing away from the table and taking her hand, ‘Come on.’

  ‘Why do I need to change?’

  Ben stopped and looked at her. ‘You seriously want to wander round Abantos dressed like that?’

  ‘Ah… no?’ Zhe hazarded a guess.

  ‘Thought not.’ Ben resumed walking.

  ‘But I didn’t think you had any other clothes for me?’

  ‘Details, details,’ Ben muttered, pushing her up the central access ladder.

  ***

  ‘…boots, Sophie.’ Sophie suddenly became aware that someone was talking at her. Well at least she thought that’s what was happening, when she connected the end of a sentence to the image of her captain peering at her from the hatchway.

  ‘Huh?’ was all she could manage in response to both him and her own observations.

  ‘Boots, Sophie,’ Ben repeated slowly, enunciating each word with a heavy dose of sarcasm albeit through a smile.

  Sophie glanced down at her current footwear.

  ‘Not yours, Sophie!’ Ben actually let loose a laugh at her befuddled expression. It was a well-known and documented state, at least among the crew of the Coelacanth, that Sophie got lost in her techno bubble, and couldn’t then understand anything that wasn’t expressed in ones and zeros. They loved to take notes on how useless and adorable she was when she was in it, and then tease her mercilessly once she returned to the living world.

  ‘I asked if you had any spare boots that Zhe could borrow,’ he repeated patiently after his laughing had died down.

  ‘Oh… um… yeah. I think my second pair are still living,’ Sophie replied slowly, still coming back to herself.

  Ben gestured for her to lead the way, giving her the gentle nudge that she needed to realise that she actually needed to go and find the boots for him.

  ‘Right,’ she said, pushing herself up from her chair before stopping and turning back to her computers. She tapped out a few final commands before leaving them running the remaining diagnostics for her.

  ‘Right. Boots,’ She declared as she trudged past her captain and down into her cabin.

  Ben followed her, still grinning, and then propped himself up against the hatchway, as was his habit, to watch his pilot as she rooted around in her cabin for the elusive boots.

  ‘… mdsfms… smdfnk… sdfssdfs.’

  ‘…what?’ Ben addressed his confusion to the rear end of his pilot, which was the only part of her not being swallowed by the locker she was currently trying to locate the boots in.

  ‘I said…’ Sophie pulled her torso out of the locker, just far enough to be able to glare over her shoulder at her captain, ‘… you are giving Zhe other clothes as well, aren’t you.’ This sentence from anyone else would have been a question, but Sophie had that unique ability to deliver it as a statement with just a hint of a threat and complete exasperation.

  ‘Other clothes?’ Ben asked innocently. ‘What’s wrong with the ones she’s got now?’

  ‘Ben.’ Sophie sighed as she tugged free the infamous pair of black, lace-up ankle boots. ‘Nice young women do not wonder around Abantos dressed in flowing skirts and if they do, they don’t last long,’ she explained with the exaggerated patience one might use on a child; a particularly slow child.

  ‘Really?’ Ben allowed some of his sarcasm to shine through this time.

  ‘Oh you… never mind. What did you have in mind?’ Sophie decided to focus on the task in hand rather than her captain’s sense of humour.

  ‘Well…’ Ben began rubbing the back of his neck.

  ‘On second thoughts, where did those ones come from anyway?’ Sophie asked; she’d been really curious when Zhe first appeared in them.

  ‘Oh, them? They were just lying around,’ Ben said casually, too casually for Sophie to be fooled into thinking this was anything other than a big deal.

  ‘Well, that’s pretty handy.’ She decided against pushing Ben on this one, sensing that it was one of those deep, soul-searching secrets her captain had.

  ‘Ah, not exactly the kind I’d hoped there would be,’ Ben admitted ruefully.

  ‘Not exactly… never mind. Let’s just go see, shall we.’ Sophie made the executive decision that Ben should not be allowed to meddle in this matter anymore and strode past him, boots in hand to go and sort Zhe out from whatever ridiculous ideas Ben had had lately.

  ***

  ‘Well, that was certainly an enlightening experience,’ Ben muttered ruefully as he leaned against the counter in the galley, as Zhe insisted on making him some tea.

  Zhe laughed lightly. ‘You make it sound like the world ended.’

  ‘For a minute it did!’ Ben exclaimed. ‘Who knew Sophie could sew? I’ll have to remember to add seamstress to her qualifications.’

  ‘Not sure she’d appreciate that though.’

  ‘Probably not. Does kind of lessen the fear factor though, doesn’t it?’ Ben said with a grin.

  ‘Or just gives her more ways to plan your demise,’ Zhe couldn’t help adding.

  ‘True, and, knowing Sophie, that’s probably exactly why she learned those skills,’ Ben conceded.

  ‘Well, I’m certainly glad she did,’ Zhe told him, looking down at her new ensemble, which was certainly far more practical than the last. She still couldn’t quite work out how Sophie had managed to make it out of all the cast offs that were either far too big, small or completely wrong to fit her frame.

  ‘Hmm,’ Ben hummed in agreement, letting his gaze linger.

  Feeling a little uncomfortable at the derailment of the conversation, Zhe drifted back out into the mess, running her hand down the long table as she went.

  ‘Do you ever actually use this as a dining table?’ she asked suddenly, as Ben joined her, mug still in hand.

  ‘A dining table?’ Ben parroted.

  ‘You know not just as a meeting point, but with all of you sitting down to dinner together?’ she prompted.

  ‘Er, occasionally; we’re usually too busy sailing the Coelacanth, fighting off troopers and all that lark to get us all together for dinner. Besides, it makes a great conference table, don’t you think?’ he asked her, still smiling.

  ‘Oh, indeed. I’m sure even Carrington would be jealous,’ Zhe threw back, unconsciously imitating Ben’s dry sarcasm and causing him to laugh.

  ‘Well sometimes we manage… Family Dinners.’ Zhe could actually hear the capitalisation of those two words; she smiled encouragingly wanting to hear this story.

  Ben chuckled, running a hand down his face. ‘That’s what the crew have taken to calling the rare times we all manage to sit down together to eat. It doesn’t happen often, but they certainly are memorable when they do happen.’

  ‘It’s a shame it doesn’t happen more often then,’ Zhe responded, thinking how much she'd like to see them all together like t
hat.

  ‘Ha, well, it’s not so much the getting us all together to eat… it’s getting us all together to cook that’s the real challenge,’ Ben whispered the last part in a conspiratorial manner.

  Zhe laughed, ‘not a chef then, Captain?’

  Ben just smirked at that. ‘Well, I’d better get back to Sophie and her diagnostics before she leaves us completely for ones and zeros,’ he declared, straightening up and setting down his now empty mug.

  ‘The techno bubble?’ Zhe hazarded.

  ‘The techno bubble,’ Ben agreed solemnly before grinning once more. ‘So, I shall leave you to contemplate our dining table that missed its calling,’ he called over his shoulder as he ascended the central access ladder.

  Zhe did find herself contemplating the long table as Ben disappeared from view. It wasn’t a particularly remarkable table, she acknowledged to herself, in anything other than its size. She had certainly seen much finer tables in the homes of the Republic during her time as a slave, with their gilt edges, ornate carving and exquisite coverings. But it was the character of this long table that caught her. All the scrapes, nicks and dents – what stories it must have to tell, and what arguments and reconciliations it must have been witness to. Zhe laughed out loud, thinking, I’m waxing lyrical about a table! She mentally chastised herself for her foolishness, but as she looked up from the table she looked straight through the hatchway into the galley, right at the stove. Biting her lip, the idea that just hit her was slowly taking hold. She glanced between the long table and the stove. It couldn’t hurt now, could it? she asked herself as she walked into the galley, rolling up her sleeves.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘Feeling particularly sentimental now, are we, Captain?’ Blue asked with no small hint of a teasing tone, his gaze wandering over the assembled crew as he took his seat at the long table. Everyone has made it to this Family Dinner, he thought, noting the various states of ease the crew were in. No one could really relax fully until this whole mess was finished and finished right, but being able to sit together like this – like the family they had become to each other – went a long way to easing the tension.

  ‘Me? Nah, this was all Zhe’s idea.’ Ben interrupted Blue’s musing with this statement.

  ‘Well…’ Blue found himself unable to come up with a suitable response to that little revelation as all eyes turned to stare at Zhe.

  ‘I hope you all don’t mind?’ she asked hesitantly.

  ‘Mind? I think it’s a great idea Zhe,’ Simon leapt to assure her, flashing her a smile.

  ‘If it tastes anywhere near as good as it smells, I’ll second that!’ Ash declared, shovelling forkfuls of rice into his mouth like it was going to be snatched away from him at any moment. Thankfully, that disgraceful display of table manners was enough to jerk everyone’s attention away from Zhe.

  ‘Nnyerg soooooo gooood,’ Ash then declared around said rice.

  ‘Urgh, must you talk with your mouth full?’ Sophie chided.

  ‘Hmph… look who’s talking: Miss Manners herself,’ Ash retorted, although only after he had swallowed his mouthful.

  ‘Nope, I’m pretty sure that’s, Sophie,’ Duncan said, joining in with riling them up.

  ‘Let them alone, Duncan,’ Ben interjected before things got too out of hand; he knew what they were like.

  ‘You always take their side.’

  ‘Duncan,’ Ben warned.

  ‘Yes Dad,’ Duncan quipped with a straight face, causing Ben to choke on his drink.

  ‘Dad?’ Ben squawked indignantly.

  ‘Well, yeah, you are kind of the father of the group, really.’

  ‘I am not the dad here,’ Ben insisted, an announcement that produced incredulous stares from everyone around the table.

  ‘Sometimes I wonder about you, I really do,’ Blue muttered in quiet disbelief while the rest of the table started to squawk about how Ben was obviously the father figure. ‘All these Family Dinners and you still don’t get it,’ he said, shaking his head.

  ‘You are so obviously the dad.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I don’t quite see it.’

  ‘Of course, because the way you totally fuss over everyone is no way indicative of how you’re the father figure,’ Sophie told him

  ‘I don’t fuss! And, besides, Blue’s a lot older than me.’

  ‘Not that he behaves like it,’ Duncan snorted.

  ‘You do kind of order us all around,’ Ash pointed out, not quite wanting to join the game but not wanting to be left out.

  ‘Break up fights and squabbles,’ Sophie added.

  ‘Well I am the captain, ergo I give orders.’

  ‘“Ergo”, huh? But, to be fair, it’s more like a father trying to control unruly children,’ Simon observed.

  ‘Unsuccessfully.’ Duncan couldn’t resist poking even more fun at his beleaguered captain. ‘And you do do a great impression of a mother hen.’

  ‘You know, I always thought it should be mother octopus,’ Simon said thoughtfully.

  ‘A mother octopus?’ Sophie repeated incredulously.

  ‘Yeah, well, a mother octopus basically eats her own tentacles to stay alive while looking after her young before they hatch. If that’s not the epitome of love, protection and self-sacrifice from a mother I don’t know what is,’ he explained to increasingly horrified looking crewmates.

  ‘That’s disgusting!’ Zhe couldn’t help but exclaim; fortunately for her, everyone else was too disgusted to really notice.

  ‘Eats her own tentacles!’

  ‘Well, that’s just stupid. It’s a damn big ocean, there’s got to be food somewhere,’ Ash scoffed.

  ‘She can’t leave them alone!’ Simon screeched, ‘They’d be eaten!’

  ‘So, instead, she essentially starves to death,’ Duncan pointed out.

  ‘Yeah. Pretty tragic really,’ Simon agreed.

  ‘And you wonder why people prefer the term mother hen? Bloody hell, Crippen!’ Sophie muttered incredulously, smacking Simon up the back side of his head. ‘Idiot!’

  ‘Come on you lot – eat up before Zhe’s hard work goes to waste,’ Ben encouraged from the sidelines of the debate.

  ‘Yes Dad,’ the entire table chorused, smirking at each other, and leaving Zhe to try unsuccessfully to smother her giggles as Ben switched his mock glare between them and her.

  ***

  ‘That went well,’ Duncan commented dryly after everyone had migrated back to their tasks, leaving only Zhe, Ben and himself lounging in the mess.

  ‘Well? What dinner were you at Duncan? Cos it sure as hell wasn’t this one,’ Ben asked, mock incredulously.

  ‘What do you mean, Captain? I thought the discussions of mother octopi were excellent, not to mention Ash and Soph’s bickering, and, of course, you can’t do better than a good old-fashioned food fight,’ Duncan summarised the highlights of the meal.

  ‘Urgh, don’t remind me,’ Ben groaned dropping his head in his hands.

  ‘At least it was only a little food fight,’ Zhe attempted to “console” him.

  ‘Hmph.’

  ‘Personally, though, I liked the water fight that followed the food fight,’ Zhe then added, losing any pretence of making Ben feel better.

  Duncan laughed. ‘You’re right, Zhe. How could I forget that? Sophie with her hair full of bubbles!’ he crowed, causing Ben to drop the act and join in chuckling.

  ‘You know, I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive Simon for that.’

  ‘Though, to be fair, he was aiming at Ash.’

  ‘Which will certainly fill me with confidence next time I need to rely on his aim.’

  ‘Cap,’ Duncan said, slapping Ben on the shoulder, ‘if you are ever waging a fight with bubbles against our enemies I think we will have much greater worries than Simon’s sometimes-dubious aim!’

&nbs
p; ‘Hey!’ Ben pulled away from his first mate just far enough to swat him on the back of the head, causing Zhe to laugh at their antics. They really can be just like two big kids, she thought to herself.

  ‘Well, I think it was a good Family Dinner,’ Zhe told them after the laughter had subsided.

  ‘You enjoyed it, then?’ Ben asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Zhe answered almost shyly.

  ‘We’ll have to have more of them,’ Ben declared.

  ‘Thought you didn’t like them?’ Duncan nudged his captain, with a knowing look on his face.

  ‘Now, Dunc, don’t go putting words in my mouth.’

  Duncan shot a look of pure disbelief at that particular pronouncement.

  ‘I just said they were a lot of hassle,’ Ben conceded in the face of such disbelief.

  ‘Sure you did.’ Duncan’s agreement was laced with sarcasm. ‘But at least it worked,’ he added.

  ‘Yeah and a good thing too; it’ll be the last break till…’ Ben trailed off, not really wanting to mention the treacherous course that lay ahead of them. Even this faint allusion to it seemed to almost suck the life out of the Coelacanth.

  ‘Yeah,’ Duncan agreed solemnly.

  ‘Right, well, come on then, time to get some shut-eye,’ Ben declared into the somewhat eerie silence that was left in the wake of that discussion.

  ‘Aye, probably for the best, although…’ Duncan paused to look significantly between Zhe and Ben.

  ‘Hey!’ Ben shouted reaching for him as he darted up the central access ladder, laughing as he went.

  ‘Ignore him. I always do,’ Ben muttered to Zhe, as they too climbed up to the cabin deck.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Fahlen swept past his unfortunate clerk into his office wearing, what appeared to the clerk, to be an ominous smirk. Fahlen practically reeked of triumph, which was never a good thing. In fact, the poor clerk mused, there isn’t any emotion on Fahlen that is a good thing.