Chapter 21: Decision

“Sweetie?” Ilia poked her head into Joe's room. She hadn't answered the fea's knock. To a normal person this would have meant she wasn't there or that she just wasn't answering. To her fairy friend, it meant come right in.

“Yes. Ilia?” Joe asked, not looking away from her computer. She was busy entering in all the data that the missing sonar machine had managed to gain before it was torn off. She wanted a 3D model of the complex. She supposed she could have used one of the ship's computer and received results quicker, but there was still a potential murderer on the loose. And after what happened with the sonar, she wanted to be careful. For all she knew, the entire computer system might fail if she tried. “Can you make it quick, I'm busy.”

“Yeah, well, I'm horny.” Ilia countered, leaning against the doorway. “What are you doing?”

“Working.” Joe tried not to get annoyed with her. Ilia was going through the same withdrawals as most addicts. That first day hadn't been the hardest, not for her addiction. No, it was the sheer length of time she had to go that made her crazy.

And lately Ilia had been sticking to Joe like a barnacle. Joe knew she had to be there for Ilia, but the woman was getting a bit too clingy.

“Yeah, well, I have good news.” Ilia smiled a bit.

“You're going to go find some other female on board to bother for about an hour?” Joe asked then realized how mean that sounded. “Sorry. Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed.”

Ilia's pouted. “How rude. And here I was about to tell you something you would really want to here.”

“Alright, what?” Joe asked, her voice sweet. She got no answer. So she resisted the urge to sigh, turned away from her computer and smiled at Ilia. “What great news did you have for me, oh beautiful one?”

“Better.” Ilia smiled. “I came to tell you that Lisa, from comm. room 1 has finished your tapes.”

“Really?” Joe jumped up eagerly.” Oh, Ilia, that is great news!”

“Yeah, well, it comes with bad news.” Ilia frowned.

“What?” Joe asked, a sinking feeling coming over her stomach.

“I think I'm getting fat.” Ilia sighed as she looked down at her stomach. “My favorite form of exorcize is gone and I think it's starting to affect me in ways other than mentally. Look at this!” Ilia lifted her shirt a bit and took a pinch of skin and wiggled it. “It's all fat! Look at that!”

Joe laughed a bit and went to hug her. “Ilia, you're not getting fat. You're beautiful.”

“But I've never been able to do that before.” Ilia very nearly wailed. I'm going to turn into a house!”

“You are not.” Joe let her go. “You still look gorgeous. Better, I think. A bit more roundness makes you look...softer. Besides, my mamma always said guys want something soft to-” she broke off as she realized what she was about to say. “You look great, Ilia.”

“You suck.” Ilia knew exactly what she had been about to reference. “But...you really think it looks good?”

“Perfect.” Joe promised. “Now, you want to come with me to listen to the tapes?”

“Nah.” Ilia shook her head. “I think I'll go see if there's anything fun to do in the gym.”

“There's a gym?” Joe asked, surprised.

“Sure.” Ilia nodded. “It's across the hall and a few doors down from the scuba room.”

XXXXXXXXXX

“Hey, Lisa.” Joe waved as she entered the comm. room.

“Hey, Joe.” Lisa said, automatically reaching for a disk. “Here, everything is on this.”

“Anything good?” Joe couldn't help but ask.

Lisa shrugged. “Depends on what you define as 'good'. You can listen to it over there.” she pointed to a computer on the other end of the room. “I already sent Tom after Kai. He should be here soon.”

“Thanks.” Joe smiled as she went to the computer. She just had to know what was on those tapes. She couldn't wait for Kai. She could just tell him when he got there.

She sat down and put the disk into the computer then slipped the headphones over her head.

Then she had to pause and grab the computer desk as a wave of dizziness came over her. It had started happening lately. She could be sitting, walking, even just laying down and she would get dizzy for no reason she could fathom. She already went to see Doc but he assured her that her ears, which controlled balance and equilibrium in the body, were fine.

They both figured it must be a side affect of the CBI's. Since it wasn't too bad and it didn't occur too often, they decided to just keep on with the injections. If it got too unbearable, they would consider other options, but for now it was same old, same old.

Once the dizziness had faded, she returned to the files on the disk.

She pulled them up, adjusted the volume, and opened them.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Lisa.” Kai greeted as he walked into the comm. room.

“Hey.” she smiled. “She's already here. Back there.”

“Thank you.” he nodded his thanks and, without missing a beat, walked right past her. He almost immediately spotted Kyma, she was glaringly obvious with that head of fiery red hair that she had decided to pull up today.

She had obviously already pulled up the sounds and was concentrating hard as she listening.

She was beautiful.

He let himself pause for a moment as he observed her.

She had tanned up a bit since she had first set out on the ship. And the salty air of the sea hadn't dried out her skin as it did most humans. Then again, she did have merblood in her so maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise. Her flesh just glowed, though. Like the air of the ocean had invigorated and rejuvenated her.

Even Kyma's beautiful hair had been affected. Before the trip, it had been a darker, more deep, red. Now that the sun had had time to caress it, it had lightened considerably. It was still red, still beautiful, but now it was like the rays of the sun had blended with it, giving it brighter, almost orange, natural highlights that really made her pretty brown eyes just pop.

All in all, it had to be the most glorious sight he had ever seen. Just her, sitting there, not even noticing him.

He couldn't resist walking up behind her and kissing her neck.

Kyma jumped when he did so but smiled when she turned and saw him.

“Hey.” she said, slipping the headphones off her head. “Sorry I went ahead without you. I didn't think you would mind.

“I don't.” he agreed, running his hand through her hair, pulling out her hair tie at the same time.

Kyma hummed appreciatively as she leaned back, resting her head on his chest and he worked his fingers across her scalp.

“Se latrevo̱ , mou omorfi̱” he whispered in her ear.

“Mmm, I love it when you speak Greek.” she smiled up at him. “Though it drives me nuts when I don't know what you said.”

“I adore you, my beautiful.” he translated as he gazed into her eyes.

Her smile was wide and beautiful. “That's nice. To be honest, I'm always half afraid you're saying something bad about me.”

“Pote.” he said. “Never. Pote, pote.”

“I'm going to have to learn to speak Greek.” she laughed a bit. “It'll make me feel better to know exactly what you're saying.”

The corner of his mouth lifted a bit. “Say 'dino ti zoi mou'.”

“Dino ti zoi mou.” she repetead in halting, badly accented Greek.

“'Kardia mou'.”

“Ka-kardie mou.” she said, laughing a bit at how bad she sounded.

“'To soma mou'.” he continued.

“To soma mou.” she repeated.

“'Na Kai'.” he finished.

“Na Kai.” she said.

“All together.” he said.

“D-dino ti zoi mou, kardia mou, to soma mou, na Kai.” she said altogether and he smiled. “What? What did I say.”

“I give my life, my heart, my body to Kai.” he told her.

She tried pouting around a smile. “You're such a man.”

“Dino ti zoi mou, kardia mou, to soma, na Kyma.” he told her making her grin.

“Love it when you speak Greek.” she said again.

He leaned down and kissed her once. “You listened to the tapes?”

“Yeah.” she sat up and looked back at the screen.

“Anything on them?” he sat beside her, keeping one hand on the small of her back as he angled the chair to see her computer better.

“Not really.” she sighed as she passed him a pair of headphones as she put hers back on. “It's mostly just silence. I did get one call worth something.”

She pulled up the file and played it back.

“The last shipment went bad.”

The voice that responded was robotic, like it went through a voice scrambler. There was no way to tell if it was male or female. “Then get a new shipment. Do I have to do everything for you?”

“But those ships are still-”

“Forget the ships. Ignore them. Don't do anything to antagonize them, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“And get a new shipment!”

“That's it.” Kyma said, shaking her head. “Nothing on it that's useful. Nothing on it that's even illegal. That voice is unrecognizable and the other man could be anyone.”

“Useless.” Kai agreed. “But at least we know why the sub was back so soon.”

“But the sonar...” Kyma hesitated. “That would be antagonizing us, don't you think?”

“Maybe the guy on the other side didn't know.” Kai suggested. “They might have panicked when they found out what we were doing.”

“So what took off the sonar?” Kyma asked. “It had to have been a sea creature of some kind, right?”

Kai nodded but couldn't think of what it would be.

She sighed. “This is useless. I need to speak to Jack.”

XXXXXXXXXX

“He should be coming online soon.” the comm. room two operator promised. “Just press that button there when you're done.”

“Thank you.” Joe smiled and he shut the door.

In the back room of comm. room two was a privacy room with a large TV monitor that would connect her to Jack's computer. It was a small room, big only in comparison to the mini-sub, with a pair of chairs opposite the screen. Kai was sitting in one but Joe was standing, waiting for Jack to come on.

She didn't have to wait long.

A few minutes later, the screen flashed, then Jack's face was there.

“Hello, Joe. You called.”

“I thought I would give you this report in person.” Joe smiled at him.

“I'm listening.” he said, completely focused on her.

“My orders, Jack, were to come here and figure out what the lights were then determine if they were a threat.” Joe said. “I-We have successfully figured out that it is an undersea base.”

Jack nodded, accepting that. “And? Is it a threat?”

Joe hesitated. “That's just the thing, Jack. I can't find any proof that it means anyone any harm. The ocean doesn't belong to any one country. They're called international waters for a reason. If you have the money, you can put a base on the bottom of the ocean.”

Jack and Kai were silent, listening to her.

“A sub does frequent the place, but based on the phone call our tap recorded, all it does it bring supplies.” she continued. “Nothing about that base has ever tried to hurt us, or even contact us. I can find nothing about it that would make it a threat.”

“Other than the attempt on your life?” Jack asked.

Joe nodded. “Our sonar was taken out but Kai tells me that it might have been a sea creature that wanted the sound to stop. There is a possibility, though a bit remote, that there was no malevolent intentions about that. The only anomaly is the attempt on my life.”

“Not enough to consider the base a threat.” he agreed. “Enough to make me re-check the entire crew, but not to throw suspicion on the entire base. So, what do you suggest?”

“I suggest...” Joe hesitated. “Leaving. Keeping a covert eye on the place, trying to sea if we can follow the sub back to where ever it makes berth perhaps. Keeping watch but that's it. We really can't prove anything about the place.”

Kai looked surprised but he didn't contest her decision.

Jack thought it over for a moment. “Do you believe that that is our only course available?”

“I suppose we could put a lot of resources into remaining here for months on end, watching the place as is.” Joe shrugged. “But unless we can get inside or they actually provide a credible threat to us. We really can't do anything.”

Jack sat in silence for a minute.

Finally he said. “Fine. Good job, you two. We'll keep covert observation on the place. Until then, pack it up and move out.”