Jim ran full speed down the hall until he got to the power plant. When he entered the huge room, he found Tony on his hands and knees looking under pipes and equipment. His pant legs were stained dark with water.
“Hull breach?” Jim shouted as he ran across the room.
Tony stood up and turned to face the commander. “No. I don’t get it. I came in here and found water all over the deck. It scared the shit out of me. I checked everywhere—pipe fittings, valves, wall and deck joints. I can’t find shit.”
Jim put his hands on his knees and caught his breath. “Jesus,” he mumbled.
“Sorry, boss. You know I don’t panic. But I’m telling you, there was a lot of water on the deck. I thought we were cooked.”
Jim walked through the water and put his hands on the deck, then tasted his finger. “Salt water,” he said, looking very concerned.
Tony shrugged. “I can’t find a leak. It had to come from the desalinization plant. If we had a hull breach, we’d all be dead by now.”
“Agreed,” said Jim, walking to the large array of pipes and tanks. “Be quiet for a second and let’s listen.”
“Been there, done that, Chief. Just the low hum of the plant. No drips, no hiss, no nothing. I’m telling you—it was a fluke. I’ll have the MC run a log of every pressure reading through every pipe on this deck, but I don’t know—it’s just weird.”
Jim walked through the large room until he came across the large specimen tank from the lab way in the back of the room. There were two large hagfish dead on the floor, one looking half eaten, but both looking fairly dried up. The top of the tank was open and the tank was only half full of water. “What the hell is this doing here?” he asked.
Tony walked back to Jim and spotted the mess. “Specimen tank. The fish geeks, uh, Mike and Theresa, they wanted them kept warm.”
Jim folded his arms across his chest. “I’ll fuckin’ kill them. They left the top open on the specimen tank and gave us a heart attack for nothing. Jesus Christ.” He let out a long, relieved breath. “Well, better two dead fish than six dead sailors. I’m gonna run down to the lab and rip them a new one.”
***********
Jim walked into the lab and found Mike watching a night-vision monitor as he eyed his bait floating in the darkness. Theresa and Ted were working under their microscopes.
“Okay, people, take a break,” said Jim curtly as he strode into the lab looking steamed.
The three of them stopped what they were doing and eyed their commander, surprised to see his foul mood.
“You guys stuck a specimen tank in the power plant to keep it warm? You left the damn cover open and your two fish jumped out and flooded the room! Tony and I thought we had a hull breach because of the water up there. I almost had a damned heart attack. Pay attention! If you’re gonna keep stuff up there, secure it!”
Mike and Theresa exchanged surprised looks. Theresa spoke up. “Commander, that tank was closed and locked! I don’t know how it could have . . .”
Jim cut her off. “It wasn’t locked. There’s a hundred gallons of water up there on the floor. You can go up there and clean it up.” He stormed out of the lab and headed back to sickbay.
“What’s up his ass?” said Mike.
Theresa looked at Mike with pleading eyes. “Mike—that tank was locked. Did you go back up there for anything?”
“Nope. I was working on the anglerfish before, and fishing today.” He looked over at Ted, who was back under the microscope. He looked at Theresa and made a questioning face. She turned to Ted. “Ted? Did you go up there for anything?”
He didn’t take his face off the scope, but replied with a quiet no. Mike made a sarcastic face and stood up. “C’mon Theresa. I’ll help you swab the deck for Captain Bligh.”
The two of them left the lab to go clean up and Ted looked up from his microscope, eyes gleaming with excitement. He was dying to examine Ian again but would have to again wait for everyone else to fall asleep.