by Melissa Good
Thunder cracked outside. As though in signal, the ship started pitching again, but one quick look confirmed that Kerry was now safely asleep and oblivious to it. Dar braced her bare feet against the wall and the bedframe to keep them in place and hoped sincerely the damn captain was steering them out of the storm instead of into it.
IT WAS STILL dark, it was still raining, and it was still rocking like a hammock when Kerry woke again. She was fuzzy and that had her blinking her eyes a few times before she could make them focus on the gray shadows surrounding her.
How long had she been asleep? Beneath her ear, she could hear Dar's heartbeat, steady and even and she remained still so she wouldn't wake her up. After a few seconds of staring at the inside of the cabin, she let her eyes close again and tried to get back to sleep.
Problem was she could now hear all the creaking around her again. Outside the cabin in the hall, she could also detect the sounds of someone moving around, crashing against the walls as the ship moved restlessly in the waves.
Despite the size of the ship, it felt very fragile. Its bones screaming and complaining as the sea pressed in on all sides.
Paradoxically, however, here in the loose circle of Dar's arms Kerry felt completely safe, regardless of the ominous clatter around her. The ship could fall apart she mused, and as long as she and Dar were together she was sure they'd come through it just fine.
How did she know that? Kerry didn't really understand how, but she knew at some deep level that it was true. She'd known it since they'd been trapped in that hospital together, when Dar had brought them both out from under the collapsed wall refusing to allow mere concrete and metal to stop her.
At the time, she'd been stunned and overwhelmed, in pain and a state of high anxiety over what was going to happen to them as well as what might have happened to their friends and family. But one thing she hadn't been was afraid, though she hadn't realized that until much later.
Kerry listened to the noise in the hallways, a muffled drone slowly resolving itself into a pair of voices, male ones, obviously upset. One had a heavy accent, and she couldn't understand a word of what was being said, but the other had a clearer, sharper tone.
"Bloody bastard, I'm not hiding you no more!" the voice said. "No wonder you had to shut the bitch up. She probly got as sick of you as I am!"
Kerry's eyes opened. She glanced up at Dar, to find the faint glitter of her partner's eyes looking back at her. "You hear that?"
Dar nodded.
"Shaudup." The other voice growled. "Put you inna trunk and toss you over."
Kerry's nostrils flared. "Oh no," she whispered.
"What?"
"We're in a bad television movie."
Dar chuckled soundlessly. "Probably drunk," she uttered softly.
A loud crack made them both jump, then something crashed against the outside of their door, followed by the sound of a violent scuffle.
They both sighed simultaneously. "Excuse me." Dar disentangled herself and got out of bed, heading for the door as she pulled her t-shirt around her. She slapped at the light on her way, grunting when it stubbornly refused to produce anything but a sodden click.
Kerry hesitated, then scrambled out from the sheets and followed, getting behind Dar as she yanked the cabin door open and glared out into the dimly lit corridor.
Two figures were struggling, having swung across the hall and slammed into the door across from them. Far down the corridor, there was a sound of a second door opening as well.
"Hey!" Dar let out a bark. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"
The two men stopped fighting, and turned, staring at her. "What are you doing here?" the smaller of the two demanded. "What are you doing on this ship? Get out!" He advanced on her. He was burly, and had had a rough, scraggly beard along with an ugly face.
Dar straightened to her full height, easily eight or nine inches over his, and braced her arms on the doorframe, not backing down an inch. "Buddy, if you know what's good for you, just stop," she warned him. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing up here?"
The other man stayed back in the shadows, wiping a sleeve across his mouth, but saying nothing.
"Estavan."
The men turned at the sound of the captain's voice. He was standing at the end of the corridor, near an almost hidden panel half obstructed by his body. "Captain." The smaller man backed off, and half ducked his head. "I found these women here!"
Kerry was now peeking out from behind Dar. Her eyes fell on the other man, who was starting to edge his way back down the corridor. Something familiar in his profile caught her attention, and she leaned forward a little, sliding her arm across Dar's back to keep her balance.
He was taller than his companion, and thinner, but he had an air of general seediness that reminded her of the backwater carnival workers she'd occasionally see when the yearly church fundraiser was on up in Michigan.
Which reminded her of something she hadn't thought about in years.
The man caught her looking at him, and scowled, ducking his head and heading off at a more rapid pace, half shielding his face with one arm despite the darkness making him nearly invisible. Kerry watched him go with a very thoughtful expression.
"You did not find anything here but trouble, Estavan. Please go to your quarters, or take yourself down to the engine room where you belong. Do not bother our guests or myself with your noise any longer," the captain stated firmly.
"But captain..."
"Go." The captain raised his voice slightly.
"Aye." The man turned and trudged off after his erstwhile adversary, disappearing into the darkness as he turned the corner.
The captain glanced at them. "My apologies. He is my senior engineer, and has been on this ship a very long time. He does not like strangeness and changes." He turned to go back through the portal. Then he paused and turned, peering back at them curiously. "They did not assign you private quarters?"
Dar looked him right in the eye. "We don't need them."
Surprisingly he merely sniffed and nodded. "Very well. Good night."
"Captain." Kerry spoke up. "Are the lights not working for any particular reason?"
The captain reached out and flipped a switch in the hallway, apparently surprised when nothing happened. He flipped the switch a few times, much as Dar had done earlier, then grunted and shook his head. "I will find out. They are functional where the officer's quarters are." He turned and disappeared through the portal, which closed behind him with a definite snick.
There was a sign on the door but it was too far for them to read and too dark in any case. Crew only, Dar suspected. With a sigh, she glanced down at Kerry's head, which was tucked under her arm. "Bed?"
"What, and miss all the excitement around here?" Kerry asked in a whimsical tone. "Dar, did you see that other guy?" She pulled back as Dar turned and they shut the door leaving the darkened hallway behind them. "The one he was fighting with?"
"No, not really," Dar said. "I was too worried the little skunk in front of me might start grabbing."
"Hm." Kerry latched on to the back of Dar's shirt and followed her back to bed. "Yeah, he looked stupid enough...scary considering he's the ship's engineer."
"Explains a lot," Dar muttered.
They collapsed into the mussed bedclothes again and sorted out themselves, the sheets, and the pillows. Dar stretched her body out and rolled half onto her side as Kerry did the same, both of them facing toward the balcony windows. Dar wrapped an arm around Kerry's middle and they put their heads down at roughly the same time.
It was quiet, and the sound of rain lashing against the window sounded very loud.
"That guy's bothering me," Kerry spoke up suddenly.
"Hm?"
"That other guy. I've seen him before, and I'm trying to remember where," she explained.
"Um...not to be a smartass, but maybe it was here on this ship we've been working on for days?" Dar suggested. "Chances are you've seen him,
Ker."
"Mm yeah, I know, but..." Kerry exhaled. "He was acting really funny--sneaking away like that when he saw me looking at him."
"Sneaking?" Dar asked. "Did he really?"
"Yeah. He put his hand over his face and walked off."
Now that was a little strange. "Well," Dar mused. "Maybe he buys into that 'looking at gay people causes blindness' theory."
"Dar!" Kerry snickered. "Yeah, you're probably right. I probably saw him on here--maybe down in the loading bay." She settled down, enjoying the warmth of Dar's body tucked up behind her. "Or on the dock. But what do you think they were talking about?"
Dar shrugged. "Sounded like they were just talking BS to me," she admitted candidly. "Guys do that."
"Girls do it too," Kerry agreed. "Yeah, maybe." She pondered further. "The captain didn't seem whacked out at all about us."
Dar chuckled.
Kerry turned her head and peered at her partner. "Does that mean I need to bring my gaydar back to Sears for retuning AGAIN?" she asked. "Jesus, I feel so clueless sometimes."
"No." Dar gave her a little squeeze. "It's just that I think it's more accepted on these kinds of ships than maybe what we're used to. I saw some of the guys up near the bridge having a little party when I was working on the SAT dish."
"Oh."
"I looked at them, they looked at me, and we all sort of went, yeah..." Dar lifted her hand and waggled it.
"I get the picture." Kerry in fact did, and it made her smile. Gay women and gay men were so different at so many levels sometimes.
She'd talked to some of the people at their church about that and found, to her bemusement, she often knew less about other gay people than she'd imagined. "Oh well. It'll come to me." She finally decided. "Where I've seen him."
"Uh huh." Dar pulled her a little closer. "After all this, I'm gonna be toast tomorrow."
"Me too."
Finally, it really was quiet. Even the rain found something else to hit other than their windows.
MORNING FOUND THEM out at sea with gray skies surrounding them and the water a sullen dark blue. Dar leaned on the balcony railing and looked down noting the whitecaps ruffling the surface, and the forbidding appearance of a world she usually found so welcoming.
Maybe seeing it from a higher perspective did that. When they were on the Dixie, the surface of the water was mere feet away, and she always felt far more a part of it than she did now towering so far above.
The sound of the cabin door closing behind her made her turn, and she leaned on her elbows as Kerry crossed the interior and emerged on the balcony next to her carrying two steaming cups. "Ah." Dar observed. "You found coffee."
"I found coffee." Kerry handed her one. "I found the crew mess, actually. It was pretty empty." She peered at the sky. "So much for that 'sailors rise at dawn' thing."
Dar chuckled sipping cautiously at the beverage. It wasn't good, and it wasn't bad, the mediocre norm of bland hotel coffee, but it was hot and caffeinated and that really was what counted. "It was probably quite a party last night. Did you happen to bump into the caterers?"
Kerry joined her at the rail, the wind ruffling her blonde hair. "Matter of fact I did. They're slightly freaking."
"I bet."
"I told them to just try to reuse the stuff they brought as much as they can, and put out little buffets for our folks at least. But I hope this doesn't last long."
"Me too," Dar agreed. "I just want the whole damn thing to be over."
Kerry studied her over the rim of her coffee cup. "You really do, don't you?"
Dar nodded.
Kerry slowly took a sip and swallowed it. "Know what I want?"
After a moment's hesitation, Dar gave a half shake of her head. "What?"
"Nothing." Kerry leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips. "I have everything I need right here."
"Aw." A charmed smile appeared on Dar's face. "You say the nicest things to me." She returned the kiss easing back to look into Kerry's eyes and finding the most pleasant mix of passion and affection there. "So."
"So." Kerry recalled the time with some regret. "Guess we better go get our job done, huh?" She let her hand rest against Dar's hip. "Get those POS machines out, then we can certify the system."
"And after that..."
"After that, it just is what it is." Kerry finished for her. "C'mon."
They left their cabin together and walked down the empty hallway seeing no one until they were halfway down the stairwell where they bumped into Mark. "Morning." Dar greeted him. "Sleep okay?"
Mark stifled a yawn. "I'm not a great sailor," he admitted. "Man, I'm freaking lucky I ran into your dad last night boss. He fixed me up."
"Hm." Kerry dropped down the steps two at a time. "Must be a family trait."
Several other techs came out of the hallway on the next landing and joined them heading down. Most still looked tired, a few still looked a little green around the edges. The ship wasn't moving nearly as badly as it had been the night before, but there was still a perceptible rocking and everyone held on to the handrails with the exception of Dar.
They entered the atrium, which appeared to be as they'd left it-- boxes neatly stacked near the walls and machines lined up in rows awaiting deployment. A few of the boxes had tumbled across the floor during the night, but otherwise everything seemed undamaged.
"All right." Mark cracked his knuckles. "Let's check out the plan, dudes." He walked over to where a blueprint had been tacked up on one side of the elevator stack that was still taped off and out of service. The print had deck plans of the ship along its length, and there were blue and red dots to indicate where the equipment went.
Dar drew Kerry to one side and they listened quietly, allowing Mark to do his job without interference. Kerry looked around noting the lack of crew. "It's so quiet," she whispered.
Dar nodded in agreement. "Not much for them to do I guess," she uttered, then paused as Talley appeared from behind the front desk and headed their way. She nudged Kerry who turned and spotted him. "Here comes your buddy."
"My buddy?" Kerry gave her a poke. "Hi," she greeted Talley.
"Hi." The young man gave her a brief smile. "Did you guys hear the news?'
Uh oh. "No...what's up?" Kerry asked. "Don't tell me we're being hijacked to Cuba. If we are, I'm swimming home."
That got a smile from Talley. "No. They cleared the port. We're headed back." He glanced at the techs. "So if you guys need to finish stuff you probably better do it fast. From what I hear, the builders are on the docks waiting to jump on as soon as we tie up."
Dar frankly didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
"Short vacation for you all, I guess," she commented.
Talley snorted. "It's all a big crock anyway," he said. "We all know the truth--soon as Quest finishes with his scamming, they're going to scuttle her, and we'll all be dumped somewhere. So give me a break."
Dar and Kerry exchanged startled glances. "You know that for sure?" Dar asked. "He's putting a lot of money into these ships."
Talley stared at her. "You're joking right?" he asked. "You don't think he's laid a dime out yet, do you? Everything's contingent on all you people finishing. He hasn't risked a cent, and he won't!" The man put his hands on his hips. "He's just playing you people to the hilt, and you all fell for it."
Kerry was aware of some of the techs listening surreptitiously. "Don't sell us short." She looked directly at him. "You don't think we haven't thought about that?"
Talley looked around, then at her. His expression was plainly skeptical.
"Maybe we're playing him." Kerry suggested. "Maybe we're using this project to advertise ourselves to the real ship companies who are watching...ever think of that?"
"Besides," Dar interjected. "Think about it--what if he's looking to get these hunks of junk bought by one of those real ship companies. You might want to clean up your acts."
Talley looked warily at them. "They won't touch her." H
e indicated the ship. "She'll end up in a scrap heap. We all know it."
Dar shrugged. "You don't know it until it happens." She shook her head. "So I wouldn't try to sink her yet."
The man stiffened, looking around quickly before he stared intently at Dar. "Where did you hear that?" He hissed. "Did they tell your old man? Those..." The sound of a door slamming filtered into the atrium, causing Talley to turn and look. With a last glance at Dar he headed toward the sound, breaking into a trot as he disappeared behind the front desk again.
"What in the hell?" Kerry blurted. "Dar, did you hear..." She stopped, her lips stilled by Dar's fingertips.
"I heard it," Dar murmured. "Stay here. Let's get this damn equipment out. I'll go find Dad and see if he's got any idea what's really going on."
Kerry frowned, a protest bubbling up. Dar cocked an eyebrow at her, and she squinted, triggering a rakish grin from Kerry in return. "Okay," she reluctantly agreed. "But if you're gone more than fifteen minutes, I'm coming after you."
Dar ruffled her hair. "Deal." She pushed away from the staircase and headed toward the front of the ship, figuring the bridge would be a good place to start looking for both her father and the truth.
Kerry watched her disappear, and then she turned her attention back to the group of techs. They all were carefully looking ahead, not at her, but she knew at least some of them would have heard Talley's conversation.
She reviewed their response, and decided it wasn't something to worry about at the moment. Or at least, it was something to worry about, but it had to take its rightful place after the other things she had to worry about.
"Boss, you got anything to add?" Mark asked. "We're gonna start on the bottom floor and work up for a change."
"Sounds good to me." Kerry moved toward the lines of equipment. "Don't know if you all heard, but we're headed back into port, and we've got to really get moving with this stuff. I want to certify it before we tie the ship up."
The techs started moving faster, a buzz of noise arising as they reacted to Kerry's statement. "Man, that's sorta too bad," Carlos said. "Those guys on the ship were gonna invite us to a party tonight."
