CHAPTER 5: IC - At Sea > Panama to Australia

[Mr. Handy]

"This is the first I've heard of that," replies Katie as she works. "Of course, I only joined in Panama, so I haven't been here as long as everyone else."

OOC,I'm pretty sure [b]Katie[/b] doesn't have any knowledge of [b]Starkweather[/b] being a "Jonah." Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anatomist]

Hmmm...I see. It seems that someone sabotaged the machinery
Father Rucker is troubled. He would have to write it down in a report
He face the three that gathered around him and say
Someone from the crew do not wants the expedition to arrive the South Pole. There are rumors about evilness that shrouds and follows the captain. Any one of you heard about it or heard the crew whisper about that topic?
Rucker asks Katie, George and Martin

'I have not heard anything of this rumors' 'what i do know is that i trust the three of you' 'and we must find out what this is all about' 'i propose we start interviewing all the crew members and ask them where they where at the time of the ammonia blow' 'cross check their versions and find out who is lying'

[aine]

Martin wrinkles his nose and frowns. As long as the plates are not yet exposed, he opens the tent flaps, puts down his apparatus and carefully sniffs each bottle of chemicals in turn to see if any are unusual.

OOC,Does Martin recognise the smell? chemistry (26%) [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3663132/]1d100=10[/url]

royya wrote:
Someone from the crew do not wants the expedition to arrive the South Pole. There are rumors about evilness that shrouds and follows the captain. Any one of you heard about it or heard the crew whisper about that topic?
Rucker asks Katie, George and Martin

Martin shrugs, "I have heard not the whiff of anything like that."

[Mr. Handy]

"Good idea," says Katie. "Has anything else unusual happened during the voyage so far? In particular, was there anything I missed between New York and Panama?"

[royya]

Beside the explosion at the docks in NY, there was nothing I can put my finger on.
Father Rucker replies
So, what can we conclude from this incidence? please summarize your findings and I will note them down.

[aine]

Martin nods, "Bien sûr, there were the serious happenings in New York before we left but nothing to do with this present captain I do not think. On the voyage?" He shrugs, "I have seen nothing until this. I myself would not like to jeopardise the ship I am sailing across the ocean in. This person must be crazy."

[Anatomist]

'Lets inform Moore about our findings' 'this is seriuos and action must be take right now'

[Mr. Handy]

"Absolutely, I agree," says Katie. "Professor Moore will know who to trust and who to suspect, too. My findings are that the apparatus was sabotaged by someone pouring acid on the pipes. It had to a particular kind of acid, as copper can't be dissolved by a number of types. We'll need a chemist to tell us more about that. What can you tell me about that explosion in New York? Maybe there is a connection."

[Anatomist]

"Absolutely, I agree," says Katie. "Professor Moore will know who to trust and who to suspect, too. My findings are that the apparatus was sabotaged by someone pouring acid on the pipes. It had to a particular kind of acid, as copper can't be dissolved by a number of types. We'll need a chemist to tell us more about that. What can you tell me about that explosion in New York? Maybe there is a connection."

'Yes yes' 'well im the Chemist around here' 'could you please cut a segment of that pipe for me' 'ill take it to the lab and do some analysis on it ''iim quite sure to know what was used here'

[Mr. Handy]

"Of course," says Katie. She cuts off a section of the corroded pipe and hands it to him.

[royya]

Paul Rucker notes the findings and nods to the them about the idea on going to Moore
Yes, I do intend to speak with him.

[taokan]

Cold sweat had dried uncomfortably at the base of her neck, and Camille wiped at it with an absentminded sort of irritation as she looked up from her point of rest near the pumps, where she'd been occupied up until now, as a small group of her fellow crewman slipped belowdecks. She presumed they were investigating the cause of their troubles, and giving a nod and a friendly slap on the shoulder the large, rather blowsy looking seaman she'd shared pump rotation with to let him know her intentions, Camille grabbed up her flight jacket and followed after them. As much, admittedly, to satisfy her curiosity as to provide any sort of assistance. Though she would be much more useful down there than she would working a pump, all things considered. If she'd really wanted to do manual labor all day, she wouldn't have gone to flight school.

She paid their ongoing conversation only half an ear, being more interested in the control panels. What she did manage to overhear, however, was troubling. Not that she hadn't been entirely expecting it-- after the sort of things she'd seen of late, no, it was not unexpected, though the accompanying terrified thrill it sent sizzling through her was, and she worried at her bottom lip as she toed over a toolbox and began digging through it to find what she needed. Yes. Troubling was the word for that sort of determined... what? Hostility? For what? They were scientists, pilots. Priests, for god's sake... Civilians. They had no real weapons, no valuable information beyond what they hoped to achieve. There would be nothing to gain from sabotage. Unless... Thinking back to the events of their departure, Camille thought she remembered Starkweather saying something to effect that it had been, how had he put it...? Ah. "Suspicious." The man had a gift for understatement, sometimes... "Suspicious," certainly, and he had outright said that it was likely the work of a competitor, meaning the leader of that rival expedition she'd heard about, that woman. Now what was her name...? Well. It didn't really matter. She was sure Starkweather would be shouting it from the ramparts as soon as he got his breath back.

More importantly, here was something she didn't need that walrus hanging over her shoulder to see to, she smirked, leaning in to get a better angle at her work.

Spoiler:

Electr. Repair 25% + roll of 16

[Job]

Once she retrieves the pipe sections and tools, Katie returns with them to the reefer hold to begin her repairs.

Cutting and replacing the pipe was not a difficult task for Katie, but squeezing into the dark cramped, ammonia-coated crevice on the side of--and behind--the compressor to perform her work was frustrating and time consuming. If Katie was at all claustrophobic, then she would have refused the job. She pushed the bulky electric torch ahead of her into the small space, then followed. Once she crawled in, only her two feet could be seen sticking out from the a nest of pipes in the rear of the unit. She had barely enough room to turn the wrenches and skinned her knuckles a few times. When she was done, George and Martin had to physically extract her from the space by pulling on her feet to drag her out.

Now, however, she encountered a different problem: the power was out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Job. (the tortured one)

[Job]

...[Camille] smirked, leaning in to get a better angle at her work.

Spoiler:

Electr. Repair 25% + roll of 16

Camille disassembled the main electrical box on the reefer's wall and discovered that the connections were sound, but no "juice" was flowing. She traced the electrical lines up along the ceiling and into a trench at the top of the wall leading to the main Tweendeck hold, then across to a rectangular grey metal box near the ladder. When she opened the box, Camille immediately spotted the problem. The ends of the electrical wire had melted to the metal box itself, terminated with a lump of melted copper fused to the wallplate and surrounded by streaks of black. The flow of current was short circuited.

Camille found the proper tools and spliced the wire to fix the problem.

Within the space of 20 minutes, the same amount of time that it took to locate the tools, Katie and Camille had the refrigeration equipment purring along with no leaks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Job. (the tortured one)

[Mr. Handy]

Katie wipes the grease from her hands, grinning from ear to ear at Camille in spite of her exhaustion. "Well done!" she says. "We make a good team. Let's go up on deck and get some fresh air - and maybe a good stiff drink."

[royya]

Excellent job ladies
Father Paul Rucker says from the back as he notes every fix and problem Katie and Camille found.
Once they finish the priest go to find PRof. Moore

[taokan]

"You'll have no complaints from me," Camille called over her shoulder, giving that little sarcastic head wiggle that meant more was coming, but she was smiling, pleased-- it was good, wasn't it? Then, gripping tight with her hands, she gave a little hop that pushed her lower half away from the ladder and brought her sliding back down down to the deck. She stepped back to allow room for the priest to pass, with a deep, surprisingly respectful nod, touching joined fingers to her forehead. Then she looked to Katie. "Just mind to stand downwind, yes? The smell sort of... Lingers." She sniffed, on cue, raising her eyebrows. A beat. Then she grinned, the ghost of a dimple tucked into the corner of her mouth like a secret as she turned to ascend to ladder again. "But what's a little odour between friends? Be drinking with a hero, won't I?"

[Mr. Handy]

"That will make two of us," says Katie, beaming. "I wouldn't have been able to restore the power. You're right, though, I could use a shower." She too steps aside and nods to Father Rucker when he goes past. "Thank you, Father."

[taokan]

"We all could, I expect," Camille agreed, turning her head so that her smile, the arch of Camille's lips and the lift of her brow, was aimed instead at the folds of her jacket. Eyed it like it had anything more to it than old matches and older dreams, wrapped up in the smell of oil and gas and cheap cigarettes. The beaten leather thing was a relic. Her father's actually, worn as smooth as butter and cracked as the notions that had gotten him into flying in the first place. The both of them. Long since past retirement, that old thing, she thought, not for the first time, nor the last. She kept saying she'd get a new one, but every day she looked for it just the same, that same old melancholic mix of frustrations and superstitions and yes, damn it, sentiment, that kept her turning her head, her eyes, just the same. Dratted old thing.

Standing at the top, she held a hand against the side of her head to keep the wind from blowing her hair in her face as she glanced a look about, following the father's eyes. She hoped this would be the last of their misadventures, but she knew it wouldn't be. That was rather the point, wasn't it? "Hero, hmm?" She mused, rocking back on her heels beside the chute. "Really? If I'd known it was that easy, I'd have gone in for engineer work. Saved ah, the devil..." she leaned a little further out of the wind, digging in her pocket. She stumbled, seeking both the proper English terminology and those aforementioned cheap cigarettes, fingers counting up four loose, rolling matches like ribs before alighting on the familiar, square box. The word came came to her with the flare of a match, and she smiled into the sudden bright shock of light. "'Father.' Hah. It have saved father and I quite a lot of trouble, yes? Well," she allowed, "Maybe not so much. Can't be seeing that working out so well. For either of us. Can you imagine me, bent over some tomfool's workbench, literally everywhere to go and no way to do it but with my feet and the legs connecting them? Eh? It would be terrible." No way of knowing how that Camille would have ended up, or where. Would she have been miserable, or worse, she wondered, her skin feeling tight, would she not have been?

"How about you?" She asked, changing tack hard enough she felt the mental whiplash. The cigarette bobbed between her lips as she suited action to her thoughts and spun on a heel, in the direction of the galley, head turned over her shoulder to watch Katie rise. "Now you're here, is it everything you'd have expected it to be as a girl? Me, I'd have thought there being more, ehn, drama to the occasion. Less like a Punch and Judy."

[Mr. Handy]

"I imagined a lot of things when I was little," says Katie, "but this wasn't one of them. There was plenty of drama earlier up on deck. Commander Starkweather was touch and go there, and he might have died."