Deep (11 page)

Spent, Sean lay panting on the bed. He waited for a wave of self-loathing to wash over him, but it didn’t. Or if it did, he couldn’t find it behind the overwhelming longing he felt for Joel. He rolled over onto his side and stared at the door, waiting for it to open. He just didn’t know if he wanted it to or not.

A GOOD MINING operation ran like a well-serviced engine. Each part moved in time with the others, creating a cycle of productivity. The crew merged themselves into the mechanics of the ship, operating their stations with efficiency and discipline.
Ariel
may not have been the biggest ship in the ocean, but when she was working, the dance she performed with her crew was unlike any other.

Time flowed quickly when the drilling was underway. The days were split into three eight-hour shifts, and the crew slipped in and out of their duties as required. Mia, Selena, and Sean were in charge of the ship, keeping it running and monitored while the others took turns at the drilling and collecting. Two on duty in each department, that was the rule, but the work was so intense sometimes they could go days without really seeing each other.

On his second season, Sean had realized the miners needed to have an infirmary closer to the entrance hatch. It was a ten-minute re-entry procedure, even in an emergency, and Sean could reach the hatch on foot in that time from anywhere on the ship, but to haul an injured miner up to the infirmary could take another ten minutes, and why risk the delay?

He set up his temporary bed and basic equipment in a utility closet backing on to the hatch. All the supplies were in use anyway, so it wasn’t like they needed the space. And with his emergency room ready he was able to move about the ship and help the others with their onboard duties.

Mining was dangerous in many ways. Mostly the danger came from the miners themselves, faulty equipment, or instabilities in the mineral bed. There wasn’t a lot the onboard crew could do when anything failed outside the ship. But there were other threats that they could control.

The Deep was crawling with life, most of it hostile and deadly. Sea creatures moved erratically, often only appearing on the scanners within minutes of impact. There were other vessels, too, pirate ships that trawled the ocean looking for weaker mining ships to plunder. It was a perilous place to work.

Sean flitted between the cockpit and his emergency room, temporarily stopping by the infirmary to make sure everything was in place should they need to do some serious surgery. He passed Mia and Selena as they operated their stations. Mia took care of the ship’s internal functions and Selena took care of the scanners. But there was little time for conversation. A good crew was focused.

On the eighth day, while he sat in the cockpit, the radio crackled to life.
“Hey, we’ve got some activity up ahead. Any idea what it is?”
Joel said.

Sean looked at the blank scanners. “Hi, Captain,” Sean said, with his finger on the speaker. “Scanners aren’t showing anything. What is it exactly that you’re seeing?”

“Big green glowing thing.”

Sean took his finger off the button and re-patched the intercom to the internal ship.

“Selena, you’re needed in the cockpit. Captain’s found a... big green glowing thing.”

Selena had been sleeping, but all the crew slept light when mining was underway. She was in the cockpit seconds before Mia. The two women flipped through the scanners, despite Sean assuring them that he’d already done that.

“There’s nothing here,” Mia said. “He’s seeing things.”

Selena leaned toward the speaker. “Hey, Captain, don’t suppose you want to elaborate?”

“Like I said, it’s big, it’s glowing, and it’s green. It’s about three hundred yards down.”

“Down?”

“Yeah, the digging opened up the drill scars from the previous operation. There’s about six holes to the left of us. The thing is in there.”

“Well, it isn’t going to show up on the scanners if it’s under the crust,” Selena grumbled.

Sean felt uneasy. The Deep was rich with minerals, but it was rife with other things too. Things they hadn’t even begun discovering.

“I think they should pull up,” Sean said.

“It could be nothing,” Mia said, sounding just like her brother.

“How big is big, Sir?”

“About the size of the drill.”

“They should pull up,” Sean said again. “It isn’t worth the risk.”

Mia shushed him.

The radio suddenly screeched with static. Selena hit it. “Captain! Captain!”

They could hear him and Kyle shouting. Sean leapt to his feet. He couldn’t let anything happen to Joel. He was at the door when he heard the captain’s laugh through the speaker. The noise almost brought him to tears.

“False alarm,”
Joel said.
“It was a shoal of green tips. My bad.”

Selena exhaled in relief. “How the hell did you get to be captain when you can’t even make out a shoal of green tips?”

“I’m going back to work,” Mia said with a shake of her head. “If he gets spooked again, switch the radio off.”

Selena rubbed her eyes and slumped down in the chair opposite Sean, relief dominating her expression. She flipped through the sensors out of habit, clearly trying to wind down before heading back to bed.

“You okay, Seanie? You got a bit flustered there.”

Sean coughed, realizing his overreaction had made a bit of a fool out of him.

“Nothing going on, my ass,” she said.

“There isn’t,” Sean tried to assure her.

She blew a raspberry at him. “I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed. Captain is a real dreamboat. Tell me I’m wrong.”

He couldn’t.

“See, you want him, you can’t lie to me.” She poked him in the arm, a childish grin fixed on her face. “And he wants you, too, you know. I haven’t seen him this way about anyone ever before. He’s smitten. Hook, line, and sinker.”

Sean shifted in his chair. It was only Selena, his best friend on the ship, but even talking to her about Joel made him squirm. He wished he could feel comfortable enough in his own skin to relax.

“You are, too. Go on, admit it.”

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“And you always have been. It’s about time something happened between you.”

“Well, it’s not going to happen. It would be a very bad idea.”

“There are worse ideas. I wish I could find someone who looked at me the way the captain looks at you.”

Sean felt a selfish pang in his chest. All his avoiding and pouting, and he’d totally forgotten his friend was also struggling. “You will,” he promised her. “You’re a beautiful, charming girl, and you will find someone who will make you happy.”

She smiled sweetly. “So why don’t you go for this while you can?”

It was a good question and one he couldn’t really answer. “It’s complicated.”

“Captain says complications are the static noise he doesn’t want to hear before the problem is fixed.”

“That’s mining complications,” he said, although he was pretty sure the captain meant it for all types of problems.

“I wish you could be happy.”

“I am happy.” At least he had been for a while, before things started going wrong.

“I wish you could be happy with the captain.” She leaned forward and gave Sean a mischievous smile. “What’s he like to kiss?”

“Selena!”

“Oh, come on. He’s a good kisser, isn’t he? I bet he is. I’ve always thought he’d be great in bed, so manly and strong. God, I bet he’d put his arms around you and....”

He gaped at her in disbelief.

“Stop looking at me like that. A girl’s got needs and desires like anyone else. I’ve been stuck down here so long even Harvey is starting to look like a viable option.”

“Harvey? Wow, I guess things are getting desperate.”

“Hey, he’s quite a sweetheart when you get to know him.”

Her face told him everything. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“You tell me about the captain and I’ll tell you.”

Sean sighed. “Fine. I like the captain and, yes, he is a very good kisser.”

“What about his penis?”

“Selena!”

She started to giggle. “Okay, I have a very small crush on Harvey. But I’m not going to do anything about it.”

“Why not?”

“Harvey wouldn’t want someone like me.”

“The same man who uses his dessert spoon to clean his ears?”

“Sean! That’s not nice.”

“I meant to say you’re far too good for him.”

“Of course you did.” She looked mad for a second, but she could never stay mad for long. “Want to know a secret? I tapped into their radio frequency when they were out in their suits. Caught him and Kyle talking about me. Said I was cute as a button and he didn’t know why I sleep with the guys that I do.”

It was the same thought they’d all had, but in a rare moment of foresight, Sean decided it would be best to keep quiet on the matter. She leaned forward, toying with the control panel until the speakers kicked into life.

“They can’t hear us,” she said, drawing him closer.

“We shouldn’t be doing this. If they found out....”

“Shh. Listen.”

Sean pressed close to the speaker, unable to fight off his curiosity.

“I don’t know. I guess there’s that place—what’s it called?—Louie’s. You know? The one with the pink sign.”
It was Harvey’s voice, and for some reason he was talking about a renowned gay bar on the surface. Sean flicked his eyes up at Selena, worried what Harvey was about to confess.

“How do you know so much about the gay scene?”
Joel asked.

Sean winced. This was probably not what Selena wanted to hear at all. He glanced at her again, but her interest was focused entirely on the speaker.

“When you visit as many brothels as I do, you make mistakes sometimes. There’d be someone there suitable, I bet you. Not too expensive, either.”

Selena seemed unperturbed by Harvey’s nonchalance about his abhorrent sex life. But then, Sean remembered, Selena had her own bleak history when it came to sexual partners on the surface. For them it just was part of life—no big deal.

“I don’t know,”
Joel said.

“Think about it, you know, in case the doc doesn’t come around.”

Sean froze, realizing now that he shouldn’t be listening to this at all. He wanted to turn the radio off, but his body wouldn’t move. It was Selena’s turn to flash him a concerned look.

“Harvey, I really don’t want to have this conversation with you.”

“You asked.”

“I asked about where a man might meet another man on the surface. I didn’t bring up the doc.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t into men before the doc. I figure he isn’t putting out.”

“Harvey,”
Joel warned.

“If you want to get laid, go to Louie’s, that’s all I’m saying. There’s a guy there who looks just like a chick. I mean, he had me fooled. I’d start there and ease in gradually.”

“Switch it off,” Sean said, his blood boiling with jealousy.

Selena chewed on her lower lip. She clearly wanted to listen more, but she did as Sean asked. She squeezed his hand in reassurance.

“I’m sure they’re joking.”

But he knew they weren’t. “What should I do?”

“If it was me, I’d remind him what’s available here before he went anywhere else.”

Sean swallowed. She was right. But now he needed to decide exactly what he was willing to offer.

HE WAITED FOR Joel to finish his shift. By rights, Sean should have been asleep, but there was no way he was going to be able to close his eyes without hearing Joel and Harvey’s conversation intruding like tinnitus. So he sat in his room and waited. The rest of the ship was quiet. Selena was manning the cockpit. Kyle had tagged in to take Joel’s place on the dig. Mia was in the hold, helping place the latest load. Nobody would disturb them.

Sean had taken a glass of Selena’s hooch to steady his nerve. They weren’t supposed to drink during the dig, but Joel would let it slide as long as they were off duty and able to walk a straight line. He ran his finger around the glass and concentrated on the mission he had set himself.
Show him what’s available.
Sean looked at his reflection in the mirror.
What’s available, Sean? What would you give to keep him happy?

Joel’s heavy footsteps tromped into the corridor. From the bed, Sean heard the door being punched open. He checked himself—his loose shirt, already open and inviting, his pale ankles poking out of his trousers. Already he could feel his cheeks flush with lust and nerves. He licked his lips as Joel stepped into the room and stopped short.

The older man was drenched in sweat, wearing just his boxers and an old undershirt. His body was clearly aching from a full shift on the ocean bed. Sean took it all in—the sight, the scent—and hoped he didn’t look ridiculous lying like a debauched sex fiend on his bed.
What’s available, Sean?
To keep Joel, to not have to share him, Sean knew he’d give anything. Anything Joel wanted.

“Hey,” Joel said, moving from one foot to the other, seemingly unable to move any further into the room.

“I forgot how uncomfortable this bed is,” Sean said. He didn’t recognize his own voice; it was distant and cold.

“I guess you get used to it,” Joel said. “You need something?”

“I, um, I heard what you said to Harvey about going to the surface.”

Joel looked surprised, and annoyed. “How?”

“That’s not important.”

“You can suddenly hear outside the ship. I’d say that’s pretty important.”

“Selena’s been spying on Harvey. It’s probably best if you don’t ask any more.” Sean paused; he was losing his mission. He straightened, longing for another shot of courage. “I wanted to say, don’t.”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t go to the bar Harvey was telling you about.”

“Why not?”

“You want me to give you a lecture on all the diseases you can pick up at those places?”

Joel shrugged. “Sure, if you don’t want to tell me the real reason.”

Sean had hoped the captain would at least come over to the bed. It was easier when there was less distance to cover. Instead, he was forced to get up and close the space between them. His legs were starting to shake with nerves.